


A Second Twilight

by BlackJacketsandPens



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, and being far far less subtle with the akusai, and everyone else tries so hard to be relevant but you try juggling 12 characters, because even though it's KH3D compliant lmao whoops it veers off right after KH2, braig is an asshole and his backstory is like entirely bullshit but i love him, i'm doing my best okay, ienzo is precious and terra is a dork, it's terrible, please do not go looking for it on FFN i beg you, rewrite of a six-year old fic that did not age well, this is so much better i'm fixing so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2018-07-29 11:36:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 50
Words: 145,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7682977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackJacketsandPens/pseuds/BlackJacketsandPens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brought back somehow -- and somehow different -- after their deaths, the Organization struggles to come to terms with what happened in the past and what's yet to come. </p><p>Canon-divergent, KH3D-compliant, Organization-centric KH3 fic of sorts. </p><p>Rewrite of my original fic of the same name from fanfiction.net.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Returned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear sweet Christ almighty, why did I do this to myself? But I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna finish it. I hope you enjoy it, guys.
> 
> Further notes (and all chapter notes from here on) are at the bottom.

The World That Never Was lay empty, the castle that had floated above it for a decade now nothing but rubble and a few lingering floating fragments. The neon signage scattered throughout the dark city lit the empty streets with dim, flickering light, dulled further by the ever-present rain, making the shadows longer and blacker -- yellow eyes peered out from them sporadically, Pureblood Heartless trailing along aimlessly from corner to corner, the sole occupants of the world now that its rulers were gone and the Lessers scattered.

Suddenly -- in the massive open area in front of the skyscraper that towered over the landscape, the lengthened shadows began to wriggle and writhe, pooling together until the whole area was coated in a thick blanket of liquid darkness, like a roiling ocean. Eventually it subsided and ebbed away, leaving behind twelve figures collapsed like broken puppets upon the dark concrete.

One by one they stirred, groaning and shakily inching to crouches and then to sit upright, clutching throbbing heads and aching chests, scrambling to pull themselves together from their last memories of terrible deaths, memories that locked them still in confusion and shock, looking around at the others’ faces as they tried to process what had happened, what was still overwhelming them.

“We--” Demyx was first to speak, his voice catching in his throat as fingers scrabbled at his chest aimlessly. “We _died!”_ His voice rose, sharp and shrill like a discordant note played on a piano, high-pitched with almost eerily real terror and hysteria. “We all _died!_ Why-- why are we--?!”

His words shattered the silence, the rest of them yanked out of their daze and into the present, and they peered around at each other as if seeing their resurrected comrades for the first time. Eyes widened as gazes met, and it took mere moments for hell to break loose.

Vexen moved first, a wordless scream of fury escaping him as he leapt at Marluxia. The pink-haired man fell backwards, taken by surprise, and the two were struggling in mere moments, Marluxia trying to rip Vexen’s hands off him as the scientist tried to either strangle him or gouge his eyes out, it was hard to tell which. Larxene moved to aid Marluxia almost immediately, shrieking curses of her own and yanking roughly at Vexen’s coat and hair; Zexion -- in a surprising show of force -- then went after Larxene, nearly throwing himself at the woman in a full-body tackle. Lexaeus surged forward, the giant attempting to separate his friends from the other two, with Larxene clawing at one of his arms and Vexen screeching incoherently over the other.

Axel, for his part, went a sort of blotchy white as he realized where he was and who he was with -- he clambered to his feet and was almost a yard away before Saïx was upon him, dragging him to the ground with a snarl. Xaldin surged into action a moment later, trying to remove the enraged berserker from the redhead, Luxord scrambling to retrieve Axel -- Demyx moving to aid him a moment later. It was pure chaos.

Xigbar’s attention, meanwhile, was on Xemnas. He’d immediately felt like something was wrong on his return to consciousness, something feeling somehow off about their Superior -- and one look confirmed his guess. The man was sitting alone, face frozen in a mixture of confusion and stunned horror; that was telling enough, as Xemnas had been entirely incapable of feigning emotion in general, let alone emotions like _that,_ but even more damning was the change in color scheme. Not a large one, but damning all the same: his eyes were _blue._ Terra.

Xigbar smirked slightly, although he was privately wondering what in the world Xehanort was thinking, and slipped to Terra’s side, prodding him in the shoulder until the boy glanced up. His face took a moment to relax out of its state of shock, and shifted to recognition and distrust. “Xigbar,” he said quietly, and Xigbar relaxed. Well, at least the kid remembered.

“O’ course,” he replied smoothly, his voice just as hushed. “Now, go on ahead and ignore my advice if you want, but y’might want to, uh...make sure our little club doesn’t murder each other, eh, _boss man?”_

Terra flinched at the nickname, brow furrowing in irritation, but upon letting his eyes flicker to the chaos they widened and then narrowed. He let out an exhale and pulled himself to his feet -- Xigbar felt as if he were almost _more_ intimidating like this, with emotions. Or maybe that was his ruined face talking.

 _“Enough!”_ Terra roared, loud enough to get everyone to freeze where they were, mid-scuffle. Even Xigbar flinched. Damn, the kid had lungs on him. And even more so, it was the first time ‘Xemnas’ had ever raised his voice.

“What the _hell_ is this?!” Terra demanded, and it seemed almost fortunate that everyone was caught up in their own vendettas to realize how different their leader seemed. “The first thing you do when we come back is to try and _kill_ each other?! What are you all _thinking?!”_

Vexen was the first to get a word in, his face contorted with such rage that it almost seemed to be real. “Superior, this-- this arrogant fool--” He gestured angrily at Marluxia, who let out a noise of indignation. “--had me _killed!_ He was attempting to overthrow Organization!!”

As if setting off a chain reaction, Vexen’s response caused everyone to begin shouting over each other, all at once.

“Lord Xemnas, Axel is a liar and a traitor--” Saïx began, but Axel cut him off.

 _“Shut up,”_ the redhead snarled, crimson spreading across his cheeks to contrast with his pale, blotchy face. “You’ve got no right to--”

At the same time, Marluxia launched into a rebuttal of Vexen’s claim. “I did no such thing, Number Four, I was just--”

“You had him _killed!”_ Zexion shouted, his own usually impassive features stained red with anger. “Deny what you like, but you still--”

Larxene tried to snatch at Zexion, Lexaeus’s arms preventing her from doing so. “Shove it up your ass, you little brat!” She hissed. “Just you wait, I’m _so_ gonna---”

Terra groaned under his breath, shooting Xigbar a long-suffering look (Xigbar just shrugged, as if to say ‘you know they were always like this, man’ -- it was a bit odd to be standing in solidarity with Terra, but they were the only people in the loop...) before stepping forward. _“Shut up, all of you!”_ He bellowed, almost louder than the first time. The voices all immediately stopped, ten pairs of eyes watching their leader in wary, obedient shock.

“Are you all done?” He asked impatiently. “Good. I’m going to make this as clear as I possibly can, all right? There will be no more fighting and no more trying to kill each other. The important thing is that we’ve all returned -- we have to figure out how and why and where to go from here before anything else; who killed who and who did what doesn’t matter.” He glared at them all almost challengingly. “Understood?”

There was simply a chorus of murmured ‘yes, sir’s and nods, and Terra sighed. He glanced at Xigbar again, as if suddenly uncertain, and Xigbar surreptitiously gestured at the skyscraper. Terra glanced at it, getting the message, and cleared his throat. “Number Two,” he began, as if he’d suddenly realized he wasn’t sounding ‘himself’ and was trying to affect Xemnas’s speech patterns. Not that he was doing a great job. “Can you get us into the skyscraper? The Castle is destroyed, so we will need some sort of shelter while we regroup.”

The others immediately turned to look at the empty space in the sky where it had once hovered, massive and imposing and blindingly white, murmurs of surprise and confusion rippling among them. Xigbar waved a hand dismissively, heading up the front steps of the building.

“Yeah, don’t look so surprised,” he scoffed. “How do you think the rest of us kicked it? Suddenly keeling over from a fatal lack of heart?” He snorted at his own joke. “Sora, obviously. Don’t whine about it, anyway, the skyscraper looks like some kinda cushy hotel. It’s probably nicer than the castle.”

Looks were exchanged, and silent agreement was made, and they watched as Xigbar summoned an Arrowgun to shoot the lock off the double doors, dismissing it to push them open and step into the lobby. He paused in the doorway, tilting his head, before looking over his shoulder. “It’s _nice_ in here,” he said appreciatively. “C’mon, let’s get comfortable!”

That was enough for the others, and seemed to forget their differences with the promise of warmth and dryness, scrambling for the door almost as one.

Axel lagged behind, glancing from the doorway to the empty city behind him as if contemplating trying to run -- his hesitation proved unfortunate, as Saïx caught him, grabbing him by the upper arm and all but frogmarching him into the lobby without a further word, shoving him in and standing by the front door almost like a security guard, gold eyes locked on Axel.

Axel found a corner to stand in and commandeered it, looking around the spacious, extravagant lobby with the others. The room was massive, done entirely with deep red and gold walls and ornamentation, with wood paneling and an elegant gold-and-crystal chandelier above them, and the floor was black and gold marble. An ornate staircase with grey-green carpeting took up the entire back wall, leading to a pair of intricately carved double doors before spiraling up to the left and right on their way to the higher floors. Hallways on either side of the lobby led deeper into the bowels, and aside from the large, dark wood check-in desk, a few wooden tables and scarlet overstuffed chairs and couches littered the room.

“You weren’t kidding,” Demyx noted with a grin. “This is _way_ nicer than the castle.”

Terra glanced around himself, remaining silent and lost in thought -- Xigbar could tell he was trying to get a grasp on what to do, how to act, what to say, and he almost pitied him. Memories of the last decade or not, he was in way over his head.

“Number Two,” he said finally, this time seeming to have a slightly better grasp on his feigned Superior’s tone. “Number Seven. I would like you two to investigate the lower and higher floors for me, if you would? Report back with your findings immediately.”

The two nodded -- Xigbar a bit surprised that he was being trusted with this, but knowing it would look suspicious if anyone else was -- and Saïx opened a portal, while Xigbar teleported away with a faint pop.

Xigbar returned first, his powers over space having made his exploration quick and easy. He announced to the group that the upper floors -- fourteen stories total -- were all residential floors, the first nine filled with small hotel rooms, and the final five all penthouse suites. They were all similarly furnished to the lobby, all dark wood and red sheets and curtains with the same grey-green carpeting, with bathrooms done in the black and gold marble. “Real posh,” Xigbar added with a laugh. “If this place ever actually operated, bet it was balls to the wall expensive.”

Saix returned twenty minutes later with his report on the lower floors -- several massive kitchens and a large, elegant dining room, and of course plenty of pantries and storage rooms. The storage rooms had almost anything you would need to run a hotel, and the pantries were all fully stocked with non-perishables -- and the freezer was working too, filled with meats and other frozen food. None of it seemed spoiled or molding, oddly enough. “We could certainly stay here indefinitely,” Saïx said. “There is an abundance of...anything we could possibly need.”

Terra listened quietly to both reports, brow furrowed in thought and with a hand to his chin. After a moment, he nodded to himself. “Alright then,” he said to himself, before speaking to the group. “As we’ve all just returned, I feel that none of us at this time are fit to do anything productive,” he said, shooting them all an almost scolding glare. “As such, you are all free to find a room and rest. However, tomorrow at--” He paused, faltering, and Xigbar nodded in encouragement. “Tomorrow at noon precisely, I expect all of you to be in attendance for a meeting in the master ballroom.”

At that, he waved a hand in an approximation of Xemnas’s usual bombastic gestures, falling somewhat short. “Dismissed.”

The others all disappeared almost at once, scrambling to find their rooms and get some sleep or a shower, or both. Terra and Xigbar both hesitated almost as one, and then Terra let out a long sigh, nodding at Xigbar and then gesturing above them.

Xigbar understood immediately, and the two men vanished as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my favorite things to write is still everyone immediately trying to murder each other, I'm not going to lie. And in this version, Xigbar is far less of an idiot than in the original, apparently, though the others are still kind of oblivious about Terra. Poor kid's trying so hard.
> 
> Word count comparison (this is going to be a thing for my own pride's sake): Original 1003 / Remake 2183


	2. Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xigbar and Terra talk and come to a weird sort of agreement, and Xigbar didn't sign up for these paternal instincts, can he return them? Also, no one should be surprised when the meeting devolves into chaos before it even starts, courtesy of our favorite divorced couple.

Terra and Xigbar reappeared as one above the skyscraper, standing atop it under the massive screens filled with flickering, silent static. Both were silent for a moment, but as he was wont to do, Xigbar was the one to break it.

“So,” he said lightly. “Terra, eh? Been a while. Can’t say I’m not surprised to see you, given…” He gestured. “Y’know. Any ideas on why I’m talking to you right now?”

Terra crossed his arms, though it almost looked like a protective gesture more than anything else. “I don’t know,” he admitted, his voice soft and uncertain now that he had no need to pretend at being Xemnas. “Just...woke up as me. Maybe it means Master Xehanort’s back? His -- _our_ \-- Heartless and Nobody both died, so maybe…” He shrugs. “I dunno why, anything I’d come up with is just a guess at best. Either way, most likely he’s got his own body back, and just left me behind.” Whether or not that meant the old man was done with him or not remained to be seen.

“Huh,” Xigbar noted. “Well, makes enough sense to me. How much do you remember, anyway?”

Terra’s face fell slightly, and he turned away. “Nothing until Xemnas,” he said quietly. “But as Xemnas, I remember...most of it. It’s a little fuzzy at parts and it feels like bits are missing, but I remember most of the past ten years.” He fell silent again after that, not that Xigbar could blame him -- kid had seemed real damn naive the one time he’d actually met him before now, and being able to remember all the terrible shit Xemnas had done was sure to be a big damn wake-up call to the real world, if being possessed in the first place hadn’t been.

Xigbar once again felt a twinge of sympathy for the kid, which left him a bit...puzzled. What the hell was _that_ about? “Right, so,” he began, changing the subject to avoid thinking about it. “What are you gonna do now?”

Terra shrugged. “Dunno, really,” he admitted, turning back to look at Xigbar again. “For now, keep the rest of the Organization alive and safe. I owe them that much after everything Xemnas did. I don’t want t’waste this second chance, no matter how we got it.” He paused, looking up at the sky with an sad, wistful look on his face. “And I have to find Aqua and Ven, now that I can. No matter what.”

Xigbar decided he also wasn’t going to think about the familiarity of that last statement, and sighed. “Sure, you do that,” he said. “I’m not gonna stop you. But I wouldn’t just assume the old coot’s done with you yet, so don’t go getting comfortable.” He reached up to tap his face, right next to his single gold eye. “He’s keepin’ an eye on you, you can be sure of that.”

“I know,” Terra replied, and the open sympathy on his face made a shiver go down Xigbar’s spine, for some strange reason. “And that’s fine. He can watch all he wants. He’s not gonna stop me. Not this time.”

And honestly? Despite the shard of Xehanort buried deep with him, roots worming their way through his very being, Xigbar almost believed him.

* * *

 

The next day, as it neared noon, the remnants of the Organization straggled into the main ballroom to wait for their Superior. They formed small groups almost immediately -- those from Radiant Garden grouping in one corner, with Marluxia and Larxene in another and Demyx and Luxord huddling together to speak quietly given they were the only ones left out. Axel remained alone, trying to blend in with the wall; that didn’t last for long, however, as Saïx approached him.

“What?” Axel asked bitterly, refusing to meet the other man’s golden eyes. “Can’t _possibly_ be anything you need from little old me, _Saïx.”_

Saïx didn’t rise to the bait, his gaze impassive and cold. “You’re right,” he said, his voice venomous. “There isn’t. I simply thought that out of common courtesy I would inform you I plan to tell Xemnas _exactly_ what you’ve done.”

“Oh? Like what?” Axel challenged. “Like the shit you _gutted me like a fish_ for? I can’t possibly guess what could be worse than that, so do whatever the hell you want.” He snorted. “It isn’t like you can glue your face to Xemnas’s ass any more permanently than it already is.”

Saïx twitched slightly. “ _You--_ ” He hissed. “You have no right to accuse _me_ of--” His eyes narrowed, and he took a breath to compose himself. “You’re one to talk,” he continued, voice low and harsh. “Considering how quickly you took to following Roxas around like a forlorn stray _mutt_ seeking _table scraps_ when he couldn’t get anything else.”

 _“What?”_ Axel asked, eyes widening in surprise and face flushing in anger. _“Table scraps--?!_ You’re-- you gotta be kidding me, is _that_ what you call it?! He was my _friend,_ Saïx! Which is _clearly_ something you don’t understand anymore!”

 _“I_ don’t understand?!” Saïx snarled. “You’re the one who doesn’t understand, the one who walked away so easily, and for _what?!_ The vacant shell of a Keybearer who abandoned you as soon as he realized what a _lying traitor_ you are? A fleeting memory you _died_ for, rather than accept that he was gone and it was your fault, you _two-faced bastard."_

Axel was dead silent for a second, color draining from his face as he processed the words, and without a single warning, his hands curled into fists, one swinging up to catch Saïx square in the jaw and sending him reeling backwards. “Shut up!” He roared, sounding pained and furious. “Just shut up!”

Saïx staggered back, hand coming up to the spot where Axel had hit him, face contorted in genuine surprise -- and then he surged forward with a roar, leaping on Axel and sending the two sprawling on the ground in a heap, the pair of them hitting and kicking and screaming barely coherent insults at one another, tangled in a knot of conflict and anger.

The others in the room broke off their conversations to watch and stare, the shocked silence broken only by a giggle from Larxene, and a soft _‘holy shit’_ from Demyx.

It was at that moment that Terra chose to enter the room with Xigbar behind him, and the two stopped to join the others in staring. Terra squeezed his eyes shut and brought a hand to his head -- Xigbar was the only one able to hear his murmured, plaintive _‘why me?’,_ of course, but it made him chuckle all the same.

“Still gotta do something about it, boss,” he pointed out quietly.

Terra sighed again, and stepped forward, trying to pull his Xemnas persona back on once again. It sat on him like an ill-fitting suit, Xigbar noted in bemusement. It wouldn’t be long for someone to catch on, if they were paying attention, and then would be the moment of truth.

“What is going on here?!” Terra demanded, and everyone’s eyes turned to him.

“I don’t know,” Zexion answered, a little bewildered. “They just...started fighting, the two of them.”

Terra swallowed a groan, gesturing to Xaldin and Lexaeus. “Number Five, Number Three, _please_ separate Seven and Eight,” he asked, trying to keep his exasperation out of his voice and expression. The two men nodded and strode forward, Lexaeus dragging Saïx off of Axel and holding his arms tight behind his back, and Xaldin hauling Axel to his feet and keeping a hand tight on the redhead’s shoulder.

“Are you two done?” Terra asked sharply, and they both nodded like scolded children, refusing to look at each other. “Good.”

He sighed again, glancing at Xigbar before shifting into a more imperious stance -- probably one he remembered Xemnas or Xehanort standing in, with shoulders thrown back and hands clasped behind him. He should be glad Xigbar was the only one who could see his hands tremble and shake from where he was; it was a dead giveaway, though that might be exactly why he hid them.

“Now then,” he began. “Our current situation is unknown and precarious -- we’ve come back, and we don’t know how or why. We know that Sora and Riku both ended the lives of half our number in Castle Oblivion, and the other half here an unknown amount of time ago.” He paused. “We don’t know how long it has been since then, and we don’t know the current state of affairs in the worlds, and what Sora and Riku’s current status are. It may very well be too dangerous to make ourselves known again, for the time being, so I believe that for the moment we will operate as if that is that case.”

He hesitated again, but pushed on. “Number Two will be doing reconnaissance on the nearby worlds, in order to determine if it is safe to resume activities -- until then, however, no one is to leave The World That Never Was. That is the only rule -- other than that, you may go and do whatever you wish. Once Number Two has determined the safety of leaving, then I will decide what we will do from there. Understood?”

The other Organization members  exchanged glances -- surprised at their Superior’s sudden concern for their well-being, perhaps, or his somewhat altered speech pattern? -- before all nodding, scattered ‘yes, sirs’ emanating from the groups.

“Good,” Terra said. “Then you are dismissed.” He paused. “Oh, and also -- someone, _please_ keep an eye on Seven and Eight? It...would be rather counterproductive if they killed each other.”

There were murmurs of assent, and Lexaeus and Xaldin let the pair go as they all went their separate ways. As soon as the room had emptied, Terra sagged, letting his attempt at Xemnas drop. “Ugh,” he muttered. “This is _hard.”_

“I know, right?” Xigbar laughed. “The Superior wasn’t really all that good at emoting, and I think you’re, uh...naturally a little too good at it. Must be a struggle.”

Terra snorted. “You have no idea,” he said dryly. “I was three seconds away from just... _ugh,_ I dunno. I can’t believe they were always this crazy. Why don’t I remember them being this crazy? Did Xemnas just not notice?”

“I don’t think he cared,” Xigbar replied. “He was so focused on his and Xehanort’s plans, he just really didn’t give much of a shit about anything or anyone else.”

Terra frowned. “Yeah, guess so,” he muttered. “That’s gonna be hard…I can’t keep this a secret forever.”

“Nope!” Xigbar said cheerily. “But you’ll figure out what to tell ‘em, I’m sure. Just figure it out fast. And be honest -- doubt they’ll appreciate you lyin’ after everything.”

Terra managed a weak chuckle. “Yeah…” He said slowly. “I wasn’t planning on lying.” He took a step away, as if to leave, but stopped and turned to look at Xigbar, gracing him with a genuine, grateful smile. “Thanks, by the way,” he said. “Really. You didn’t have t’help me, but you did anyway. Thanks. Uh-- even if you’re kind of…” He tapped his own temple, next to his eye, to indicate what Xigbar had indicated earlier. “...not on my side, so to speak, I really do, um, appreciate all the advice. I’m glad someone’s here who knows everything, to help out. I’d be lost otherwise. So-- yeah. Thanks, Xigbar.”

That said, he left through a Corridor, leaving Xigbar alone to stare after him. “Well, _fuck,”_ he muttered under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck. “Way to be endearing, kid.” What was he supposed to do with that smile and that genuine thanks? Here he was, literally spying on Terra for Xehanort whether he wanted to or not, and Terra was thanking him for his advice? Hell, why was he giving Terra advice in the first place? It might be easiest to watch him crash and burn and let the other Organization members tear themselves apart, winners get the grand no-prize of being vessels. No muss no fuss. But...he couldn’t. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t do it that way.

No, he knew. He just didn’t want to admit it. So he didn’t -- shoved it right out of his head and went back to his own room.

That wasn’t gonna be a problem. Whatever Terra did would be pointless in the end. Xehanort was just that good. No one could stand up to him for long. Terra wouldn’t have a chance.

Or, Xigbar thought absently, leaning against his window and thinking of the way Terra had stood earlier, head thrown back and gaze steady, voice assured even though he was pretending, giving orders that both made sense, were considerate, and were _obeyed_...maybe he did.

Maybe he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still reeling with surprise about the whole vaguely paternal Xigbar thing, but you'll see why it's still the most perfect thing that could have happened. And honestly, the whole Axel/Saix catfight is twice as vicious as it was in the original, and I love it. (There has to be some bitter irony in the fact that Xaldin and Lexaeus are the two that are keeping them from murdering each other...) Meanwhile Terra, with 0 experience at being a leader, is still better at this than Xemnas. 
> 
> And he cares, which will make all the difference.
> 
> Word Count Comparison: Original 1231 / Rewrite 2136


	3. Bonds of Flame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel is Axel is Lea in the end, and if there's one thing he's good at...it's remembering. And he has a promise to keep. Even if he needs a little push from a lost friend to get back on track, and with a new toy, to boot.

He knew he was blatantly disobeying the orders he’d just been given, but after he’d disobeyed so many others, why should he care? He needed this, he needed to be here.

Axel sat on the edge of the clock tower, where he’d spent so many afternoons, leaning on his knees and staring unseeingly at the sunset. His insides were in turmoil, like someone had put them all in a blender and turned in on high speed.

He didn’t have a heart. He knew that. He was a Nobody. But then why did he...why did he feel? There was no other way to describe this horrible gnawing ache in his chest but feeling -- he didn’t even know the names of the emotions it might be anymore, after a decade of being without. But they hurt, like knives to the core of his being, like losing Roxas all over again, like losing-- he shook his head.

“I didn’t…” He murmured to himself. “I didn’t walk away. _I didn’t_...”

“Didn’t _what_ , Axel?”

Axel let out a startled sound, scrambling to his feet with a yelp, turning to see Saïx standing on the tower ledge by the stairwell entrance.

“Saïx?!” He managed, caught off guard. Of all people to disobey orders...he’d never-- “What are you--?”

Saïx ignored him, slowly advancing on him further, golden eyes almost feral. “It doesn’t matter. No, Axel. Tell me. Just what did you do, then, if you didn’t _walk away?”_

“I-- whatever you think I did, you’re wrong!” Axel insisted. “I didn’t-- I didn’t just _desert_ you! I stuck with you as long as I could and you know it! Look what I did for you! I went to Castle Oblivion and I damn well _killed_ people for you, Saïx! I killed Vexen, I killed Zexion, I damn well nearly killed everyone there and you know it!” His voice rose, shaking. “I would’ve done it all for you, and you know it! I would’ve killed _every single member of the Organization_ for you if you asked me to, Saïx, you just had to say the word and I’d burn the place to ashes!” He took a deep breath. “Even if I hated doing it, even if I hated myself for doing it, I’d do it for you! I’d do _anything_ for you! Because I-- because you’re my _best friend!”_

Saix didn’t seem to respond to any of it, his eyes still feral and his expression still cold. “So what happened, then, if you’re this devoted to our friendship?” He asked scathingly.

“I don’t know!” Axel responded desperately. “I don’t know, and I wish I did! Did we drift apart, did something happen? Is it my fault? It it yours? It is no one’s? I don’t know!” He swallowed something thick in his throat, a lump that didn’t want to go away. “All I know is-- you- you changed! You started becoming someone I didn’t know, didn’t recognize! You changed, _you_ did! And I--! I--!”

Saïx laughed coldly. “I changed, Axel?” He asked, voice icy and venomous again. _“I_ changed? You were the one who ran off with that air-headed little _brat_ as soon as things looked hard, weren’t you?” He said contemptuously. “But you were the one who got yours in the end. He got fed up with your selfish bullshit and turned his back on you just like you did to me.”

“You’re wrong!” Axel shouted, shifting back as Saïx shifted forward suddenly. “You’re wrong, Is--”

As the two of them moved, Axel’s foot caught on the edge of the tower. He lost his balance suddenly, wobbling -- there was a split second where time seemed to freeze and falter, but then he toppled backwards, arms windmilling at his sides as he fell off the clocktower.

The last thing he saw was the feralness melting from Isa’s eyes, leaving them shocked and confused, and a hand reaching for him too late to grab his, and then it was all black.

* * *

 His eyes flickered open to blackness again, and for a moment he thought he was dead. “Shit,” he murmured, but then he realized there was faint light below him, and blinked, confused. “What the…?”

He glanced down, and his eyes widened. Below him was a large, round, stained-glass platform, strange and somehow familiar at the same time...and he was on it. Well, sort of -- the figure painted onto the glass was a memory now, a young boy in an orange vest and shorts, red sneakers and a beloved golden scarf that resided within a coat pocket now. His eyes were closed, as if sleeping, and the border around him was red, black silhouettes of fireballs patterning it. The bottom half of the inner circle was a familiar scene -- the Garden’s castle, also long-since a memory. The upper half was a circle of circles -- seven in total --  familiar faces within them. Roxas, Isa (the youth of his memories), little Ienzo, Sora, Namine, Riku -- and a face blurred at the edges, one he couldn’t recognize. Half their eyes were closed; Ienzo’s, Roxas’s, Isa’s, Namine’s, but Sora and Riku’s were open, blue and teal eyes seeming to encourage him. To do what, he didn’t know.

Axel took a slow breath, and ran a hand through his hair. This was...ridiculous. What was happening? “What is this?” He asked, managing to pull himself together.

_It’s okay. Don’t worry. You’re safe here._

The voice was...around him, surrounding him like a warm blanket, in his head and in the air, soft and feminine and familiar, though he didn’t know the source. But it soothed his confusion and fear somewhat and he started forward, looking around.

“Where am I?” He asked the voice.

_Somewhere important. There’s something you need to do. Something important, something you promised. And you need something special to do it. That’s why you’re here._

“I…” Axel tried. “Okay? I’ll...let’s go with that.” Something he promised? The words were...familiar, almost, the promise almost on the tip of his tongue. But he didn’t know what it was, couldn’t remember. Almost, but not quite. But maybe if he did this...he would? “Lead the way.”

The voice...giggled. _Okay! Just keep walking for now. You’ll understand soon, I promise._

“Sure,” Axel muttered, sticking his hands in his pockets and starting to walk, at this point not even surprised when a glowing staircase formed at his feet as he walked up to a second platform, the picture the same as the first. On this platform though, three pedestals rested in a triangle. Each one held a weapon -- a staff, a shield, and a sword.

Axel’s mouth twitched, approaching the staff’s platform curiously -- it was plain, the handle silvery-white and segmented like a ball-jointed doll’s arm, the tip crystalline, a black band separating the two. He reached out to it, feeling almost...nostalgic, in a sad sort of way.

 _Oh, the staff,_ the voice said. _It represents...well, healing. Healing and magic, connections that no one can break. Inner strength, instead of outer. I’m not sure it’s very you, though._

Axel couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Yeah,” he agrees. “Not so good at magic.” The sword is next, and he reached out to brush his hand over the hilt. It’s black and white, a familiar checkerboard, with the blade silver and blocky and the cross guard gold. He smiled -- this, he knows what it’s based on.

 _The sword,_ the voice said fondly. _Courage and strength, the power of the warrior. It can bring destruction the easiest of all of them, but it’s also...it’s the will to overcome anything, stand against any trial. Just like him, right?_

“Just like him,” he agreed. “You’re pretty good at this, huh? Guessing you want me to take the shield?”

 _Oh, no!_ The voice denied. _I mean, yes, but also, you don’t have to if you really don’t want to. I mean-- um-- oh, just go and look at the shield!_

He laughed again, shaking his head. “For an ominous narrator, you’re not so great at this are you, huh?” He teased, and he almost could hear the voice blush.

The shield was round, but with points in places almost like one of his old Frisbees. It was black, edged with red, and with a stylized red outline of a flame in the center, with orange outlining it on the inside of the red, and a yellow oval in the center of that.

 _The shield,_ the voice explained, a smile in it. _The guardian’s weapon. It carries the power to protect one’s friends, more than anything else. The shield is loyal, a protector. Kindness and compassion...even if it’s a little guarded at first._

Axel snorted. _“Me_ , compassionate and kind?” He asks. “You sure you got the right guy?” Still, though, something in him shifted at that, and he was already pulling the shield from the pedestal, hefting it in his hands.

_Well, you might not think so...but I know people who might. Now, you’ve made your choice. It’s time to keep going. You have some questions to answer._

Axel nodded and shrugged, walking further and up another appearing staircase. He gasped as the staircase shimmered and glowed, lighting the whole area up -- he had to throw his hand across his face at the brightness, and when he lowered it, he almost choked. He was in the Garden; the Garden of his youth, one of the fountain courtyards he’d played in almost all the time.

He wasn’t alone, either, he realized. Three others were in the courtyard, scattered around it as if waiting for him.

 _Go on,_ the voice urged. _Answer their questions, and be honest. It’s okay. You have nothing to lose by being honest here...it’s okay._

He took a deep breath, nodding, and stepped over to the first figure. Kairi, he realized, only much younger. The Kairi he remembered as a dreamlike memory, the tiny girl in the white sundress.

“Hi,” she said with a faint smile, where she sat perched on the fountain’s edge, knees to her chest and arms wrapped around them.

He smiled back weakly. “Hi,” he replied.

“It’s been a long time,” she continued. “But that’s okay. I’m not mad. I wanna know, though -- what do you want to do most with your life?”

Axel blinked. What did he want to-- “Does it matter now?” He asked, and Kairi simply nodded.

“I…” He hesitated. “I want to protect the people I care about,” he answered finally, letting himself be honest. “I want to be a Castle Guard. I want to-- I want to go home with my friends. I want to--” He cut himself off. “I want to protect my friends.”

His own answer surprised him, but Kairi seemed satisfied. “That’s good,” she told him. “You didn’t forget.”

He blinked, and then she waved a hand at him, pointing at the next figure. He moved towards it, and Ienzo looked up, the tiny young man sitting on a bench in the courtyard with a book almost as big as he was balanced on his lap.

“Hello,” he said, his voice like a whisper. “It’s good, you didn’t forget what you wanted to do. But..” His visible eye seemed to pin Axel in place. “Answer me this. What are you most afraid of?”

Axel blinked. “I...being forgotten.” He answered after a moment, his own voice lowered. “Forgetting and being forgotten. That’s what scares me most.” That wasn’t as hard to admit -- it still scared him, in a way. As much as anything could.

“Right,” Ienzo agreed softly. “That’s what it is. It always was, I remember. You remember too. That’s good.”

He lifted the book again, disappearing behind it, and leaving Axel to approach the third figure, hands already shaking. _Isa._

The Isa of long-since-gone days, young and youthful, face unmarred and eyes green. A small, fondly exasperated half-smile on his face that had always seemed to only be just for him. Arms crossed over that familiar blue jacket where he stood against the courtyard wall.

“Hey,” he said, bobbing his head. “Don’t make a face like that. That’s not how you greet your best friend.”

Axel’s lips twitched into a smile despite himself. “Hush up,” he replied. “It’s good to see you. Now what’s your weird question, huh?”

Isa laughed, and it made that strange knot in Axel’s stomach twist. “Fine, fine, rush me, why don’t you?” He teased. “Fine then. Tell me...what’s the most important thing in the world to you? It should be easy.”

Axel paused, licking his lips. “Most important thing in the world to me,” he repeated. The word _‘you’_ caught in his throat, because it wasn’t entirely true anymore, and they both knew it. “My friends,” he said finally. “All of my friends. They’re-- they’re the most important thing in the world. You, Roxas--” His voice catches as if there’s another name, but it sticks and he can’t remember it. “Everyone. They’re-- I’d do anything for them. All of them. For you, for him, for-- for all of ‘em. _Anything_.”

“Your friends,” Isa repeated, and then smiled, really smiled. “I’m not surprised. You do remember. That’s good. But then again…” He uncrossed his arms and stepped forward, reaching up to adjust a strand or two of Axel’s hair. “That’s what you do, you know. You remember. And in turn, we all remember you. You’re _immortal_ , after all.”

Axel managed a smile, though for some reason it shook. “No, I’m obnoxious,” he said, finishing the familiar exchange, and Isa laughed again.

“You sure are,” he agreed. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He patted Axel’s cheek fondly and stepped back, pointing at the gate leading out of the courtyard. “Now go on. You have a promise to keep, and standing here talking to the past isn’t going to keep it. Go on and do your job -- got it memorized, Lea?”

Axel let out a soft gasp at the name, the old name, the one barely heard in years -- the one he’d almost forgotten despite himself -- and then he smiled. “Got it memorized, Isa,” he repeated softly, and left the courtyard. The same glow surrounded him again, and he found himself walking up a third set of stairs, shield in hand, to a third platform with the same picture.

There was someone standing on it as well, a small, slight figure in a black coat, the hood pulled up. Their hands were clasped behind them, and they stood silently.

 _It’s time, Axel,_ the voice said. _One final test. One final thing -- you have to remember your promise. You have to remember, so you can keep it. You have to remember your promise so you can be you again._

“I can be me again?” He repeated, confused.

 _Don’t worry. You’ll understand._ The figure shifted position, holding out a hand -- a Keyblade appeared in it, Sora’s simple silver one. _Now, Axel...fight._

_Fight to remember...not to forget. Not this time._

The small figure launched themselves at him, Keyblade upraised, and Axel barely had time to raise the shield in his hand before they struck. It was fierce -- the little figure was vicious with their strikes, throwing magic into the fray as well, Blizzard spells exploding in the air around him. The shield was no chakram, and though it served well enough, it soon failed, a well-placed blow to his wrist sent it spiraling away from him, and the figure pressed their weapon to his collarbone.

 _Come on, Axel. Giving up already?_ The voice asked, though for some reason it seemed to emanate from under the figure’s hood now. _Try. Try and remember. Try and remember your promise. Think about why you fight, what you want, what’s most important, hold it inside you and believe. Believe._

Believe. That was...easier than he expected. He closed his eyes and did as the voice -- as she told him, calling up memories of why he fought, what was important. His friends. Protecting his friends. That was...that was important. Roxas, Isa, Namine, Sora and Riku even -- and one other, one other he sort of began to recall, another figure...small and slight, a girl in a black coat. He remembered them. His promise...what was his promise?

His promise--

 **_\--‘Go on, you just keep running!’--_ ** The memory jolted through him like lightning, the words ringing sudden and loud in his head like a bell. **_\--‘But I’ll always be there to bring you back!’--_ **

“Oh,” he whispered, and he felt something in his hand, solid and warm, and he swung, metal hitting metal and a feminine grunt of surprise, bootsteps dancing backwards. And then he opened his eyes.

“What the---” He choked out, eyes wide. It was not a shield in his hand, or a chakram.

It was a Keyblade. The hilt shaped like one of his chakram, but with a single bar in the center instead of a crossgrip, the spikes simpler, with the blade and teeth one swirl of translucent fire. The chain seemed to be links of small chakrams, a larger silver one the keychain. It sat in his hand like it was made for it, for him, and he gawped at it like a child.

There was a giggle. “It’s very you,” a voice said -- the feminine one, _the_ voice, only somehow more real, more solid, and very present.

He blinked and looked up, and there she was -- the figure, hood down. A black-haired girl with bright blue eyes, smiling at him, hands on hips, head tilted. And he knew her. He remembered.

“Xion,” he whispered, almost reverent, and she lit up.

“Yeah,” she said. “Hi, Axel.”

He didn’t realize he’d moved until he was wrapping his arms around her, pulling her head into the crook of his shoulder and neck, clinging to her tightly as if she would vanish into the air again if he let go. “You-- you’re here,” he managed, voice barely audible and trembling. “I forgot you, but you’re here. How--?”

“You remembered me,” she explained, petting his hair gently. “You always did -- you’re special, Axel, you’ve got a talent for remembering, even if you forget. You _remember_ things, that’s what makes you special. So...all you needed was a little push.” She giggled. “I’m not really here. I’m your memory of me. But that’s enough -- if I’m here, then you can bring the real me back.”

“And I will,” Axel told her firmly. “I will. That’s my promise. I remember it now, too. I’ll always be there to bring you back. All of my friends.” He managed a smile, weak and shaking. “I’ll always be there to bring my friends back.”

Xion just nodded. “Yeah.” She smiled and tapped the Keyblade he was still holding. “And you need that to do it.”

“Right, that,” Axel managed. “How’s that even...I’m not...you and Roxas were special, I’m not-- I’m not even whole--” He paused, breaking off and paling slightly. “Am I?”

Xion beamed at him. “See for yourself.”

His free hand lifted slowly, reaching to press itself against his chest, hesitantly. And it was warm. Warm, and he could feel a faint pulse beneath his fingers. B-bmp. B-bmp.

“Oh,” he said simply. _“Oh_."

“Yeah,” Xion said proudly. “I don’t know how, but you’ve had one for a while, I think. I know it was there when you got back. I don’t think you’re the only one, either.”

Axel -- Lea, he realized with a distant sort of shocked relief, he was _Lea_ again -- filed that away, before shaking his head. “I’m not-- oh. Oh.” It explained a lot, he figured. The fighting, the yelling, the... _emotions_ that ran high in all of the revived Organization members. “Well, shit.”

“Mmmhm,” she said. “But enough about that. You gotta wake up. You have something important to do, don’t you?”

Lea grinned. “Yeah,” he said, shaking the daze off -- he’d always been one to recover quickly -- and rolling to his feet. “Time to do my job. You hang in there, too, Xion. You’re-- we’ll have ice cream again, ‘kay?”

“Okay. I know we will,” she smiled. “Oh! Before you go, look down.”

He did, and laughed in surprise -- the picture on the arena had changed. It was him now, an adult in the black coat -- though the marks on his face were gone, the Keyblade resting in his hand. The border was his chakram, and the landscape in the back was Traverse Town. The faces in the circles were the same too -- Sora and Riku, eyes open -- but also different -- Roxas and Namine were the same, eyes closed, but Xion was there, picture unmarred and her eyes closed as well, and both Isa and Ienzo were their older selves, eyes opened and whole.

“Nice,” he said approvingly. “Got my good side. Now...I’ll see you on the other side, Xion.”

She flashed him a smile and a salute, and he did the same, and light blinded him one last time.

He opened his eyes in the station courtyard, shaking himself off as he clambered to his feet. He was disoriented, what just happened feeling like a dream...but no, he realized. No, it wasn’t. The feelings in his chest, the knot in it -- his _heart_. It was there. And so were his memories of Xion.

Lea let a grin settle on his face as he glanced up, able to make out a black-coated figure still up on the clocktower, and his hand slipped into his pocket, returning with a square of gold-and-brown fabric.

He shook it open and tied it around his neck, the scarf resting on top of the hood of his coat, and then looked up again at the clock tower.

“Don’t worry, Isa,” he said softly. “Whatever happened to you…I’ll make it right. I promise.”

That said, he opened a portal, leaping in it with renewed purpose -- and a heart filled with determination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally one of the shortest in the fic, and now it's a monster. I'm going to go ahead and say that it was also the first chapter I wrote of the original, before it was a chaptered fic -- probably why it was so short. And now it's...well, a lot of changes had to be made in this and chapter four to account for Isa's situation and how Lea was going to handle it, given that the original was written before KH3D.
> 
> And also, I went full on Dive to the Heart and you can't stop me. He needed it, and he needed her. I'm not sorry.
> 
> I'm also not sorry in the least for the Lea/Isa subtext that's barely even subtext at this point.
> 
> Word Count Comparison: Original 932 / Rewrite 3655


	4. Shadowed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's a guy to do when his friend needs saving and he has no idea from what? Play it by ear and make it up as he goes along, of course! And then, breaking the news to a couple of nerds who can actually make heads or tails of the situation is probably a good idea.

Lea came out of the portal at the stairwell like always, and though he didn’t break into a run, he moved as quickly as possible around the corner; Saïx -- Isa -- was still there, hopefully, and he didn’t want to miss the small chance he had.

To do what, he still wasn’t sure, but he had to do _something_. That much he knew.

Isa was crouched at the edge, one hand pressed to the ledge as if he was leaning over to look at the ground below, the other pressed tight to his head. His teeth were bared in an unconscious snarl, and his golden eyes -- _golden_ , Lea repeated in his head, when did they turn gold? He hadn’t even noticed -- almost glowing, pupils dilated so much they were almost invisible. His chest was heaving in deep, heavy breaths, but he didn’t seem to register the world around him.

“Sa-- Isa!” Lea called, skidding the last few feet to his side and crouching down to his level. “Hey, can you hear me? Hey! Are you alright? Hey! Isa!”

There was no response.

“Isa!” Lea demanded again, reaching to grab his shoulder. As he did so, though, the other man surged into action with a guttural noise, spinning to tackle Lea to the ground hard enough that Lea’s head bounced off the brick ledge with a hollow thunk. Dazed, it was all he could do for a few frantic moments to scrabble at Isa’s chest with both hands, while Isa’s quickly found Lea’s neck beneath the scarf, wrapping around it and squeezing.

Lea choked mid-breath, gasping for air and movements becoming more frantic. Could you choke a Nobody, who wasn’t a person? He didn’t know, but he wasn’t a Nobody anymore; none of them were. And humans could die so much easier. _He_ could die so much easier.

“I--sa--!” He gasped out, shifting to tug at Isa’s arms instead, one hand shoving at his shoulder while the other pressed at Isa’s face. “Stop--! This isn’t-- it isn’t _you_ \--!”

Because now he knew -- he didn’t know how, but he knew with a renewed certainty, that this wasn’t Isa. Maybe it hadn’t been. He _had_ changed, how Lea didn’t know, but...the scar on his face, the gold in his eyes, Isa had never had those before. Whatever had changed, those had come with it. Caused it? There were too many questions and not enough answers -- and not enough _time_ \-- but Lea had the one answer he needed.

Isa needed help. And he was-- he had to help him.

 _“Isa---!”_ Lea rasped out again, and concentrated as hard as he could despite the grey fast creeping into his vision. Come on, come on-- there! His new weapon flashed into his hand in a burst of light and flame, and he used it as a lever to shove at Isa, trying to push him off, get his hands away from his neck.

Several things happened all at once, then.

Isa’s eyes widened. “A _Keyblade--!?”_ He rasped, voice not sounding half his own. A momentary loss of concentration, on his part, but a moment was all Lea needed to take advantage of, and he shoved again, harder. Lea’s Keyblade lit up, glowing bright as a falling star, and both men recoiled, blinded momentarily. The light engulfed them both, and everything seemed to become disjointed, fragmented, flashing in spurts and starts.

_\--Darkness, surrounding both of them, and another stained-glass station, this one blue but the picture so covered with darkness that it was impossible to see--_

_\--Isa was being pulled under, there was someone else here with them, a shadow, a fragment, and Lea had no idea who it was but his eyes were gold and his skin was dark and all he could hear is roaring in his ears as he leaped at the man, Keyblade raised in fury, LET GO OF MY FRIEND--_

_\--His first strike finds its mark, taking the shadow-man by surprise, but that’s the only one that does, and he can’t seem to get another solid blow in, he’s like a ghost made of darkness and lightning, fast and intangible, and Isa is drowning, he has to do something--_

_\--He gives up on the shadow-man, racing to Isa and trying to dig him out of the thick black mire with bare hands, Keyblade like a beacon that Isa (somehow looking like his younger self, all green eyes and blue jacket) grabs hold of and clings to, clings to Lea’s arms, and he’s crying in relief, ‘you came for me’, he manages, but then his eyes widen and he shouts a warning--_

_\--Lea’s struck down, knocked to the side with the strength of the blow, and he struggles to stand, but then he sees Isa, little Isa, tackle the shadow-man with a roar of his own, THIS IS MY HEART, he bellows, voice older despite the youthful face, AND YOU DON’T BELONG IN IT--_

_\--The distraction is all Lea needs, and he’s on his feet, and Isa’s clinging tight to the shadow-man, holding him still and solid, and Lea’s seen Sora do this, Roxas do this, and he points the Keyblade square at the intruder’s heart, ‘you heard him’, he says, all cocky grin and confidence, ‘this isn’t your heart - get it memorized’, and light explodes from the tip, and he sees the shadow dissipate before he’s blinded again--_

And then his eyes blinked open to the rosy light of sunset, his head pounding and a weight heavy on his chest. “Ow,” he murmured, coughing a little. “Isa?”

No answer. He shifted slightly, dismissing the Keyblade still white-knuckled in a hand and trying to sit up only to realize Isa was the weight on top of him, unconscious but breathing steadily. “Isa!” He struggled a moment with Isa’s dead weight, managing to get him propped against the wall, before checking him again. Nothing seemed different -- at least, not on the surface -- but he let his hand stray to Isa’s chest, resting an open palm on it and sighing softly as he feels the steady thrum of a heartbeat under his coat.

“Right,” Lea said quietly. “Both of us, we’re back. No... _all_ of us are. And whatever that was…” Whatever that was, he was pretty sure someone needed to know about it. Not that he knew who to tell.

Or did he?

He took a deep breath and stood, shaking his head, before he lifted Isa up, getting one of his arms around his shoulders. “Ugh, you’re heavy,” he muttered, adjusting Isa’s weight before opening a corridor and stepping through. He just hoped he was right, and the person in question was where he figured they might be.

* * *

 Of all the people Zexion expected to appear in the makeshift lab he and Vexen had begun setting up in one of the many kitchens, Axel was not one of them. In fact, given the events immediately preceding the deaths of the two founding members, he had expected Axel to give them the widest possible berth in general.

And yet here he was, looking oddly relieved, and...with an unconscious Saïx draped over his shoulders, of all things.

“Oh, good,” Axel said gratefully. “I had a feeling you two might have come down here to do nerd stuff. I am _so_ glad you’re predictable.”

Vexen let out a hiss of startled air between his teeth, trying not to bang his head on the counter he’d been crouched under, fussing with a power cord. “Did anyone invite you in here, Eight?” He snapped, rising. Zexion had to admit, Vexen’s already hair-trigger temper had gotten much worse since their ‘return’ of sorts yesterday, but it was a little less concerning when directed at Axel. “Don’t think that I’ve forgotten what you did, even if my ire’s focused more on that-- that--” he took a moment to find a good word for Marluxia, but Axel cut him off.

“I know,” he said. “And I’m sorry. But look, this is really important, and you two are like literally the only people I could think of to come to about it.”

Vexen blinked, caught off-guard by the apology -- and Zexion was, too, honestly. Axel, apologizing? What in the world was going on here? “Go on, then,” he said, before Vexen recovered. “What happened? And why is Saïx…” He gestured. “I’d ask if you two fought again, but neither of you seem that much the worse for wear.”

Though wait just a moment, Zexion realized. When had Axel put that scarf on? It wasn’t unfamiliar to him at all, but he’d thought it long since lost. And...there was something else different about the redhead, too, now that he was looking at him more closely…

Where were the marks on his face?

“What’s going on, Axel?” He repeated, and Vexen caught the urgency in his tone, glancing from him to Axel with wary curiosity.

Axel sighed, a faint smile flickering across his face. “I thought you guys would’ve figured it out on your own by now,” he admitted. “You’re the scientists, or whatever.” He lifted a hand and tapped his chest wordlessly, giving the two others an expectant look. Unbidden, Zexion’s hand came up to his own chest, pressing flat against it -- his breath caught in his throat, as if waiting for something didn’t expect to be there, couldn’t _possibly_ be there…

“Oh my--” He heard Vexen breathe behind him -- no, he heard _Even_ breathe behind him. This couldn’t be, this absolutely couldn’t be, but it was. He could feel his heart beating steadily beneath his palm, and an unfamiliar surge of something -- _emotion_ \-- clogged his throat, making him sag back against the counter.

“Ienzo!” He registered Even’s voice approaching, and a pair of hands on his shoulders, and honestly, he let Even pull him into a hug -- the first time he’d heard his real name, the first time he’d felt Even’s arms around him (he was warm, he realized distantly, not cold anymore) in a decade. He hugged back, tightly, until he felt like his feet were back on solid ground, and then let go.

He glanced up at Even, who managed a weak, hesitant smile, and then at Axel -- Lea -- who smiled as well, giving him a thumbs-up with his free hand. “Explains a lot,” Lea pointed out. “I mean, we get back and immediately start dogpiling, that’s not…” He laughed. “Well, either way, I’m not complaining. Are you?”

“Of course not!” Even protested, before realizing he wasn’t being accused of anything, and coughing awkwardly. “In-- in any case, how do you know this happened Ax-- Lea?” He asked. “Does this have anything to do with Isa?”

Lea nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Uh, can you help me--” Even and Ienzo blinked, and then nodded, hurrying to help Lea offload Isa onto one of the empty countertops. When that was done, Lea leaned against it and sighed.

“Okay,” he said. “I honestly have literally no idea what’s going on. But something did happen, so I figure you guys are my best bet in trying to piece it together, right?”

Ienzo shrugged. “I would imagine so,” he said dryly. “Someone has to be the competent ones around here, it might as well be us. So fill us in.”

Lea stifled a laugh. “You got it,” he said.

“So, I, uh, might’ve disobeyed orders,” he began awkwardly. “Nothing major, I just...after the fight in the ballroom I needed to, uh...sulk, I guess, so I went to Twilight Town. And then Isa showed up right after me, we argued again, and I kind of...fell off the clock tower.” Even made a noise of surprise -- and concern, apparently, given his expression, which was odd but not that odd, given the return of their hearts -- and Ienzo frowned.

“You fell off the clock tower?” He asked. “But...you don’t seem injured.” A Nobody would survive the fall easily, he reflected, but a human...not as likely.

Lea shrugged. “Yeah, well, I guess that’s what happens when some weird-ass, uh…” He trailed off. “It’s hard to explain, I don’t even really know what the hell happened, but weird shit happened and all I can really show you is the end result,” he explained. “Don’t freak out.”

And then he summoned a Keyblade.

Ienzo’s mouth fell open despite himself, and he could hear Even beside him sputtering in shock. Well, he thought absently. That’s something. “A Keyblade,” he said aloud. “I’d ask who in their right mind would trust you with one, but...honestly, out of the entire Organization, you’re probably the best bet.”

Lea had the grace to look embarrassed. “Really?” He asked. “I mean...yeah. Maybe. You think so?”

“Most likely, yes,” Even agreed. “I would say it’s at least a little to do with your connection to Roxas, which Xal-- ah, I mean Dilan, pardon -- filled us in on, but....in all honesty, the rest of us are too…” He shrugged. “You do seem the best option, odd as it is to say.”

Lea flushed, and Ienzo snorted. “In any case, yes, it seems you have a Keyblade. That will come in handy, I’m sure. But what else is there? That can’t be it,” he said, and Lea sighed.

“Right,” he said. “Anyway, I went back up to confront Isa, ‘cause...come on, I’m not the only one who noticed something was up, right? His eyes never used to be gold.” The two scientists nodded silently -- Ienzo had definitely noticed, though he had never been able to piece enough clues together; too many pieces of the puzzle were missing, and he still didn’t know the picture he was trying to make. “So I did, and, uh…”

He frowned. “There was...someone else in his heart. Someone that wasn’t Isa.” There was a moment’s hesitation, and then he pressed on. “Is that-- is that even possible? I mean, I saw him, he was really there, and I -- we kicked him out, but is that even...how can someone…?”

Ienzo hesitated, glancing at Even, who looked contemplative.

“It is possible,” Even said at last. “I believe in theory someone could...implant their own heart, or a piece of their heart, within another person. In so doing, that person would become…” He frowned. “A puppet of sorts. Theirs to control, or at the very least influence. If allowed to grow, that fragment would consume them, and there would be nothing left of the original heart…” He trailed off, his face suddenly draining of all color.

“What?” Lea asked, eyes widening at the reaction.

“Going by that theory,” Even continued, his voice a bit shaken. “If one were to transplant a fragment of their own heart into a Nobody, with no heart of their own to fight back against the infestation…”

Ienzo finished. “The host would be unable to fight back at all, leaving them nothing but a puppet,” he said slowly. “Nobodies are empty vessels waiting to be filled with a heart...even if that heart is not their own.”

“Shit,” Lea managed. “Well, shit. What, you think that could’ve happened to all of us?” He asked.

Even swallowed. “It’s possible,” he admitted. “But clearly, it didn’t. If a mark of the possession is golden eyes…”

They all exchanged silent looks, contemplating the thought.

“But wouldn’t you need a Keyblade to do the whole heart fragment thing?” Lea asked suddenly. “Those are the only things that can lock and unlock hearts, right? That’s how I managed to kick the guy out of Isa’s heart.”

Even frowned. “Yes, you would,” he admitted. “But…”

“Xehanort,” Ienzo said suddenly. “Don’t you remember?”

Even’s face went pale again, and he lifted a hand to massage his temple. “Yes,” he murmured quietly. “I remember.”

“Xehanort?” Lea asked. “You mean-- you mean Xemnas?” His eyes widened. “Shit, that’s-- that makes sense. That makes way too much sense.”

Ienzo sighed. “It does, unfortunately.” This was a lot of information to digest, and a lot to take in. A lot of puzzle pieces were being added to the board, and though some of them were beginning to connect...there was a long way to go.

“Lea,” Even said finally. “Take Isa back to a room, let him rest. He should be alright, if you’ve purged the foreign presence from him. He might take a few days to wake, but he should be fine. Let us know if he isn’t.”

Lea nodded, already turning to move Isa off the table and onto his shoulders again. “Got it,” he said. “And before you tell me, I’m not gonna tell anyone about what happened or about my, uh, new toy.” He grinned faintly. “At least not until it’s relevant.”

“Good,” Even said approvingly. “Keep that to yourself for now. As for our hearts...we’ll address that in time as well, I suppose. We’ll have to try not to cause any undue panic in our numbers, or at the very least, ah...we need some answers of our own before we speak to the others about this.” In other words, they had some investigating of their own to do before the revelations could be made public.

“Right,” Lea said. “Keep me posted. I’ll be with Isa if you need me.” He lifted his free hand in a wave and hauled Isa through a corridor, leaving the two scientists alone.

“So,” Ienzo said finally, glancing at Even. “We have problems.”

Even sighed, running a hand through his hair. “That we do, Ienzo. That we do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And lo and behold, Lea literally accidentally de-Norts Isa, while having no damn clue what's even happening. Good job, Lea. Good job. Keep up the good work. And meanwhile Ienzo is just kind of WTFing at all of this, but he still manages to be intelligent enough to piece things together. Poor nerds. And yes, the weird format of the Dive to Isa's heart was intentional, shut up. It works.
> 
> More not!subtext for you guys, too.
> 
> Word Count Comparison: Original 1369 / Rewrite 2918


	5. Talks Between Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The apprentices talk about what happened, and the multiple betrayals from within their own ranks...and what to do about it. Meanwhile, two friends long since grown apart finally make their reconciliation, and, well...all's well that ends well, for now.

The next three days were spent in a blur, Even and Ienzo remaining in their makeshift lab as they bounced ideas and theories off each other, neither of the two wanting to be the one to break the news to the others. But finally, they decided they couldn’t put it off any longer, and Ienzo fetched Lexaeus and Xaldin -- no, Aeleus and Dilan.

Even was the one to break the news to the two of them, as gently as he possibly could despite his brusque demeanor, explaining to them about their hearts, what had happened between Lea and Isa, and the intruder in Isa’s heart. And most importantly, their theory on the culprit. Xehanort. Or rather, Xemnas.

“How could he do this?” Dilan demanded, pacing the room -- he’d hardly stopped moving since the initial revelation of their recompletion, as if remaining still would cause the emotions he was all but fleeing from to strike him senseless. “As if betraying us, betraying the _Garden_ \-- as if making us Nobodies in the first place wasn’t bad enough, he does this? Did he intend to make us all mindless vessels of his will? Is that all the Organization was to him?”

Even shook his head. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t know him anymore-- did we ever? We were never able to help him recover his memories, but...did he ever forget at all? Or-- there’s so much surrounding the man that’s a mystery, or that he made a mystery deliberately. There’s no telling what he thought of us.”

“I agree,” Aeleus said with a sigh, crossing his arms. “Either way, it seems more and more likely that he did not see any of us, not even the others from the Garden, as anything beyond tools to use and discard as he saw fit.” He sounded disgusted. “In fact, it would make perfect sense if it were to come to light that Xemnas himself orchestrated the massacre at Castle Oblivion.” Even made a choked noise, but Aeleus pressed on. “It makes sense, Even. Marluxia and Larxene’s sedition couldn’t have been unknown to him, and the three of us were sent there to get out of the way as well, for varying reasons.”

Even let out a quiet moan. “I-- I can’t say you’re wrong,” he managed. “But...that would mean he-- we were--” He put a hand to his chest and shuddered, fighting off the flames from his memory.

“Expendable to him,” Ienzo finished. “Yes. I know-- I know he must have decided to kill you rather than let the Replica Project fall into Marluxia’s hands, or anyone else’s. Or for you to decide to use it against him. I knew too much in general, or he knew I was capable of figuring too much out that he didn’t want me to know, so I was marked as well.” He glanced at Aeleus. “And I know that if the two of us were dead, Lexaeus would have to be put down as well, lest he take immediate and swift revenge for us both.”

Even managed a tiny smile, and Aeleus nodded. “That I would,” he said gruffly.

Ienzo smiled quietly as well. “Axel was the perfect choice for his assassin, too,” he admitted. “If, as we’ve surmised, Saïx was his puppet and mouthpiece...we all know Lea and Isa’s relationship was close. And Axel was not one to listen to orders...except, perhaps, if they came from his best friend. So if he were to use Axel’s blind loyalty to his friend to have Saïx give him orders -- orders that were in reality from the Superior…” He shook his head. “Axel would carry them out without question. Even if that meant killing you, Even. Even if it meant killing _me_.”

There was silence for a moment as the group took in that information, what it meant, and then Dilan slammed a fist against the table he was pacing beside with a snarl of anger. “That _bastard_ ,” he growled. “We _trusted_ him. We worked beside him, we believed he would get us our hearts back, and all he did was use and discard us! Did he ever truly mean to use Kingdom Hearts to return us our hearts, or did he have his own goals in mind?”

“He probably did,” Even said. “Like he always has. It was never about studying the heart, we know that now. It was about...whatever he was planning. _Is_ planning. We were tools, and we followed his lead blindly...even as Nobodies, we danced to his tune without thinking.” He rubbed his temples. “Whatever he wants to do, I doubt he isn’t still planning to do it. He must have contingencies on top of contingencies, for any eventuality. He’s the type. But we’re so far behind him, and we know so little...”

Ienzo let out a long sigh. “I’m going to speak to Xemnas,” he said with certainty, straightening from where he had been leaning against a table.

“No!” Even yelped immediately. “No, I forbid it! You can’t do that, Ienzo, if you reveal what you know there’s no telling what he could--”

“Even, _stop_ ,” Ienzo snapped. “I know the risks. I’m not a _child_ anymore, I don’t need to be _babysat_. I am a grown man and I know what I’m walking into, and most importantly I can take care of myself. I don’t need your protection.”

Even faltered, but didn’t relent. “I know that,” he managed after a moment, new emotion creeping into his voice that seemed to have even Even himself surprised. “I know you’re not a child anymore, Ienzo, but I can’t-- I can’t just--” He shook his head. “I don’t want you to get hurt. Not by him. Not again.”

“Even…” Ienzo’s voice caught, despite himself. “Thank you for caring. I-- I understand you concern, and I...I appreciate it, I suppose, but I can handle this. I promise. There’s something…” He shook his head. “I don’t think there’s anything to worry about, but-- I can’t stop you from worrying. Just trust me, please.”

Aeleus put a hand on Even’s shoulder reassuringly. “Ienzo is right, you know,” he rumbled, smiling faintly, if a bit sadly. “Time and troubles have aged us all beyond our years, but none more so than him. I believe that if Ienzo says he can handle this, we should allow him to do so. I believe in him. Don’t you?”

Even let out a long sigh. “I do,” he admitted grudgingly. “I do. I just…” He rubbed his temples again. “I’m going to go grey in short order at this rate,” he muttered. “Fine, very well. I trust you, Ienzo, just...be safe.”

“I will,” Ienzo promised, disappearing through a corridor.

As he vanished, Dilan turned to Even. “I almost forgot,” he said, glancing around. “Why didn’t you call Braig for this? He should know--”

“He _does_ know,” Even said, voice somewhere between sadness and anger. “At least, we think so. Don’t you remember how close he was to Xehanort back then? Don’t you remember what we said about the mark of possession?”

Aeleus sucked in a breath as Dilan’s eyes widened. “Golden eyes,” he breathed out, voice hardening. “That son of a goddamn _bitch_ , he’s had golden eyes ever since he got those scars, right before Xehanort showed up.”

“I don’t want to believe it,” Aeleus said, sorrowful but resigned. “That Braig would...but it-- it makes too much sense. Damn it all…”

Even sighed. “I know,” he said tiredly. “Why would he do this? I don’t understand, and that...you would think we would. We know him better than Xehanort.”

“Or _do_ we?” Dilan said bitterly. “Ten years in the Garden before the fall, and he never once told us where he came from, or anything about his past. Do we really know Braig all that well?”

“I thought we did,” Aeleus said quietly. “But...I suppose in the end, we didn’t. We didn’t know him at all.”

* * *

 In the past three days, Isa hadn’t stirred once from the bed Lea had brought him to. And in three days, Lea hadn’t left his side. He couldn’t bring himself to even if he wanted, he thought -- he wasn’t going to walk away from Isa again, or even make him think he had. Not again.

Lea was curled where he’d been since they’d arrived at the room, tucked in the room’s overstuffed crimson armchair, moved to face the bed. He’d laid Isa on top of the red bedsheets, and he was still and silent, breathing steadily but not waking.

“Isa,” he mumbled to himself, staring vacantly at the room, with it’s red and gold wallpaper and dark wood desk, drawers, and cabinet, the TV unable to actually get real channels (he’d checked). “Wake up, already, will you?”

He let out a sigh and let his eyes drift shut, intending on taking a quick nap.

That wasn’t to last for long, though, as what seemed like a moment later, he heard Isa cry out. His eyes shot open and he nearly fell out of the chair, scrambling to his feet. “Whoah, what, what’s going on, where’s the fire?!” He yelped.

“L-Lea?!” Isa gasped out -- he’d woken, obviously, and had pressed himself against the headboard, almost as small as possible. His eyes were wide, and he almost looked frightened, confused...like he wasn’t sure at all what was going on. His green eyes, Lea registered, and whatever remaining tension there was in his shoulders relaxed almost immediately.

“It’s me,” he said reassuringly, moving to sit on the bed, hands out in comfort. “It’s alright, Isa, everything’s okay.”

Isa shook his head. “It’s-- It’s _not_ ,” he insisted. “It’s not okay, he’s-- is he still--” He shook his head again, even more frantically, a hand coming to his chest with fingers curled in as if to claw something out of himself.

“No,” Lea said, grabbing Isa’s hand from his chest. “He’s gone, Isa, he’s gone, Xehanort or whoever it was is gone,” he promised, voice insistent. “I made him get out, we made him get out. Don’t you remember? We made him leave together.”

Isa swallowed, slowly seeming to relax. “We...did?” He asked, but then he blinked, his voice more confident. “We did,” he repeated, more certain. “I-- I remember.” He managed a weak smile. “You saved me.”

“Well, yeah, of course I did,” Lea said with a smile. “I promised. I save my friends, it’s what I do.”

Isa chuckled faintly, but then his face fell and he looked away. “Some friend I am,” he muttered. “I killed you. I _wanted_ to. I...I was jealous. Angry. I let him influence me, and I-- you were right.”

“Whoah, there,” Lea said, squeezing Isa’s hand. “I screwed up too, y’know. I should’ve seen something was up. I should’ve...I dunno, tried harder. It never should have gotten to the point where you were that gung-ho about killing my dumb ass.” He sighed. “I wish there was something easy to blame, y’know?”

“So do I,” Isa admitted. “I wish we could say...there, that’s it, that’s the moment one of us messed up, so we knew what happened. What went wrong.” He sighed, mirroring Lea. “But there isn’t. It was just...messy and awful, and--” He glanced away and then back at Lea. “And here we are,” he said, laughing softly. “And what do we do now?”

Lea shrugged. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I missed you, and I don’t-- I don’t want to--” His voice cracked. “I don’t want to lose you again, Isa. We’re best friends. I’m not gonna-- I-- I can’t--”

Isa blinked at him. “Even though we...you still--” He began, only to be silenced by Lea’s nod. He managed a smile, shifting to lean forward and rest his head on Lea’s shoulder. “Idiot,” he murmured fondly. “Only you.”

“Only me,” Lea agreed, slinging an arm around Isa’s shoulders. “You’re my best friend in the universe, Isa. I don’t care what happened between us, what shit we pulled and how pissed we were at each other in the end. You’re-- you’re important to me. And I’m not gonna walk away again. Not ever again. Got it memorized?”

Isa stilled a moment, and then laughed. “Of course I do,” he said quietly. “I’ve always got it memorized. You sure say that damn line enough.”

“Well, yeah,” Lea laughed as well. “It’s in the rules. Just part of my charm, y’know. It’s what makes me immortal.”

“Obnoxious,” Isa corrected, and they both laughed again, before Isa softened. “I’m sorry,” he murmured sadly. “Even though you don’t-- I’m still sorry. I never meant to...or worse, I did, and I-- Lea, you’re my best friend. I--”

He broke off and wrapped his arms around Lea’s waist instead, and Lea did the same, silently running his hand through Isa’s hair. “It’s okay,” he said quietly. “It’s in the past. Axel and Saïx are gone. It’s just Lea and Isa again, just like before. We made mistakes, but now we can fix them. _Together_. Like we were meant to be.”

“Like we were meant to be,” Isa repeated. “Yeah...you and I, just like always.” He sighed. “Though...I suppose it won’t be just us forever…”

Lea sighed. “No,” he admitted. “I mean, Roxas…” And Xion, he added mentally, but he knew he was the only one who remembered her right now; it was pointless to bring her up just now. “Look, Isa, you’re-- you’re my number one, okay? Always will be. Get it memorized. But Roxas is my best bud, too, and I just…” He let out a breath. “You guys have something in common, y’know? You’re both my friends. You both care about me, and I care about you guys. I want you to get along, so when it comes to it...can you try? For me?”

“...Okay,” Isa said with a sigh, smiling faintly. “For you. Number one.” He chuckled, reaching out to brush some hair out of Lea’s face. “I like that. Think I could get used to it, even.” Lea laughed as well, and Isa snorted, leaning to rest his forehead against Lea’s. “You’re wearing your scarf again,” he noted. “I didn’t think you’d kept it…”

Lea smiled. “Of course I did. It’s been in my pocket for ages. I was waiting for the chance to-- to feel like I _could_ wear it again, y’know? And here we are.”

“Here we are,” Isa agreed. His hand found Lea’s and gave it a tight squeeze before just sitting there, their fingers tangled together. “...So, Xehanort,” he said at last.

Lea sighed. “Yeah,” he said. “I don’t know half the details, but Even and Ienzo promised they’d keep me posted.”

Isa sighed as well, but nodded. “Right,” he said. “Let’s hope it’s something we can handle…”

“Of course we’ll handle it,” Lea said confidently. “It’s _us_. Lea and Isa, back together. Nothing we can’t handle, the two of us. Just watch, Xehanort, we’ll kick your ass.”

Isa laughed. “Right, I almost forgot about your boundless optimism,” he teased. “We’ll see, Lea. But you’re right about one thing -- together, there’s nothing we can’t do.” He paused. “Got it memorized?”

“Isa!” Lea gasped, mock scandalized. “That’s my line!” He pressed his hand to his chest, making a dramatic swooning gesture, but Isa caught him with a snort and the two doubled over together, shaking in amusement and laughter. It was good to be together, Lea thought. Together again. Like it was supposed to be, like it had always been supposed to be. Even if things had changed between them, even if it wasn’t quite the same, it was better than before and that was all he wanted.

He leaned up and Isa leaned down, and their foreheads banged into each other -- they laughed again, wincing, and Lea shifted his aim, burying his head into the crook of Isa’s shoulder.

“We’re in this together,” he said. “We just have to wait and see what’ll happen next. But we’ll see it through, you and I.”

“Of course,” Isa said, letting his free hand -- the one not holding Lea’s -- slide through Lea’s hair. “Like always.”

Lea grinned. “And then I’ll buy you ice cream, like always,” he teased. “You have a lot of catching up to do.”

“I do, don’t I?” Isa asked lazily. “We have the time. I’m not worried. But I’ll hold you to that ice cream. It’s been a long time since I’ve had any.”

“Too long,” Lea agreed. “We’ll all share it together when this is over, whatever it is. That’s a promise.” That was his promise.

They’d all be together. All his friends. No matter what, they’d all share ice cream under the sunset again. The three -- no, the _four_ of them. Together at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well the first half is pretty important, and addresses a lot, and it has one of my favorite lines about Ienzo, and Dilan 'can't stop moving or the emotions will get me' McLastname is my favorite thing. But seriously guys, just come sit in the trashcan with me and enjoy The Unsubtle Lea/Isa Chapter you all waited for. It's beautiful.
> 
> They're gonna have to deal with Braig eventually, though. Just to dampen the mood. (Also - foreshadowiiiiiing~~~)
> 
> Word Count Comparison: Original 1239 / Rewrite 2306


	6. The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ienzo goes to confront the man he thinks is the Superior -- and the truth comes out. Older, wiser, and sadder, the feckless youth is now in command of eleven lost souls, but what is he planning to do now?

Though he’d taken a corridor out of the makeshift lab, Ienzo exited it in the main foyer, choosing to take one of the ornate, mirrored elevators up to the penthouse Xemnas had claimed for himself. That way he had some time to think, prepare himself for whatever he was walking into.

It was odd, he reflected, leaning on the gold handrail in the elevator. Despite the city being empty, the whole hotel functioned perfectly -- electricity, water, air conditioning...the food was all fresh, the beds were all made, it was clean and tidy...it was startling. But fascinating, in a way. As it was -- though he hadn’t left the lab much in the past three days -- some of the younger members had already begun to treat the place as less a temporary headquarters and more like a new home. He’d already seen Xigbar and Luxord betting on who could slide down the banisters fastest, Demyx, or Xigbar himself -- though he hadn’t stuck around to see who’d won.

Honestly, it had been...tempting to join in, but no. He couldn’t. If he wanted to be treated like an adult, he had to act like one. Even if that meant not doing the sorts of things he wanted to do sometimes. He wasn’t a child anymore, he couldn’t afford that. Even if things were different now, even if he was Ienzo again...things were still-- he couldn’t. Not anymore.

He exited the elevator, footsteps brisk, but they slowed and then halted when they saw Xigbar -- Braig -- in front of Xemnas’s door, leaning against the wall next to the window facing out into the city.

“Braig,” Ienzo said, voice neutral -- he had to know they knew, or at least suspect. After all, he seemed to be quite on top of everything and always had been. “Odd to see you here. Are you here to visit the Superior as well?”

Braig held up a hand. “Easy there, squirt,” he said casually, his lack of response to the change in name enough of an answer for Ienzo in that matter. “Don’t get so touchy. I’m not gonna stop you -- you go on in. Just a warning that he’s out at the moment, but hey. I’m sure you’re patient enough to wait.”

“Of course,” Ienzo snapped. “Now, if that’s all, you can leave me alone. I’m a big boy, Braig, I don’t need hand-holding.”

Braig smiled. It wasn’t a very nice one, mirthless and not reaching his visible -- golden, Ienzo reminded himself, he had to remember what that most likely meant -- eye. “Aw, you’re so cruel, squirt,” he said, pressing a hand to his chest. “Won’t even let me give you a friendly warning, will you? Man to man.” He leaned in, smile disappearing. “Be careful where you stick that talented little nose of yours, Ienzo. Don’t want it to get--” He reached out and snapped fingers in front of it, causing Ienzo to jerk backwards. “--snapped off.”

 _“Braig!”_ Ienzo hissed. “What are you--”

Before the question even finished, Braig was gone, a soundless pop as he teleported away.

“Damn,” Ienzo muttered. “Every time…” He ran a hand through his hair and pushed the door to the suit open, stepping inside with the rather startled realization that it was unlocked.

Entering the room, though, his confusion only mounted. The room didn’t look a thing like it belonged to Xemnas -- no, if he didn’t know better, he would imagine it belonged to an entirely different person. He had been suspicious before -- there had been something off in Xemnas’s speech patterns when he’d spoken to them immediately after their awakening and in the meeting the next day, something undefinable, but... _off_. But this? This was setting off so many more alarms.

The whole room was messier, for one. The bed stood un-slept in, though the comforter and two pillows were missing, the rest of the sheets rumpled and disorderly. Empty containers of food and bottles of water sat piled in the trashcan and on the counter, and a towel sat innocently on the floor half in and half out of the bathroom. The overstuffed couch had the comforter on it, crumpled at the foot, and the missing pillows as well -- a testament to where he had been sleeping instead. It looked so much more lived in, like a real person’s room -- not like Xemnas, whose austerity had always been somehow chilling.

But...then there were the books. There were books _everywhere_ , books and papers scattered haphazardly across the room, in stacks and on chairs, in piles, tossed about in odd places, some half open with spines bent, others visibly dog-eared. It was enough to make Ienzo cringe. And more importantly, he knew from experience that Xemnas had never been anywhere near that disrespectful towards literature of any kind.

Ienzo glanced around, stepping towards the desk. It was covered in books, several lying open, the desktop stained with ink from pens left open and scattered with scraps of paper as well. To his surprise, he realized that while some of the books were rather advanced texts about the Realm of Darkness and the Keyblade War, others were Xemnas’s own journals. He stepped around to study the journal left open, tracing down the page until he startled himself by smudging a more recent addition -- a single word next to an underlined passage, in almost unfamiliar handwriting (youthful and blocky, compared to Xemnas’s elegant cursive): _Ven?_

“Ven,” Ienzo repeated out loud. The name wasn’t one he knew, and yet...he wasn’t sure why it felt familiar. How strange.

He shook the feeling of nostalgia off and continued his circuit around the room, occasionally picking up a book and straightening it onto a pile, or closing it properly with a scrap retrieved from the desk. Even if it was a bit...micromanaging, perhaps, he felt like it was the least he could do to tidy up. The more he was here, the less nervous he was, after all -- there was no way this was Xemnas, so the only thing he had to fear was the uncertainty of a stranger; not what Xemnas would do.

He paused, noticing the closet was ajar, and walked over, opening it fully -- there was no need for any of them to use the closets, as they only had the one coat, after all -- and stopped dead, his eyes widening. It had been cleared out, and one of the penthouse’s chairs has been dragged in. And upon it sat a suit of armor. It was old and rusted in the joints, but recognizably feminine in shape and colored in shades of blue. It was arranged neatly, the legs crossed at the ankles and he arms on the armrests, listing to the side slightly as if it were occupied and the woman within was just sleeping.

“Who…?” He murmured, a conversation he’d had long ago rising unbidden to his memory.

_“The first thing Xemnas did once he got rid of him was to undo the seal and build a room in the back. Ever since then, he holes himself up in that room when he can, and he talks to someone. But who?”_

Who indeed, Ienzo wondered. This armor, perhaps? And in which case...why retrieve it? Who did it belong to? Who was--

A corridor opening made him freeze, and he turned, closing the closet door and standing against it to watch Xemnas -- or whoever he was -- enter the room. He seemed to stumble as he left the corridor, wiping a thin trickle of blood from his lip with a gloved hand and favoring one leg slightly. His expression, unguarded, was an uncharacteristically genuine look of frustration and disappointment -- genuine emotion.

“Xemnas,” Ienzo called, and the other man froze like a deer in headlights, nearly losing his balance before spinning around to face Ienzo, scrambling to rearrange his features into the mask of blank neutrality he was known for. He brushed off his coat, struggling to keep his voice low and even, though he was avoiding Ienzo’s bemused gaze.

“Number Six,” he managed. “What are you doing in my chambers? Is there-- do you need something?”

Ienzo barely managed to stifle a snort. No, this wasn’t Xemnas, though he was certainly making a valiant effort to pretend he was. “You can drop the act,” he told him. “I can see right through it, even if your room didn’t give you away as it was. I know you aren’t the Superior we’re familiar with.”

“I--” The not-Xemnas tried.

“It’s alright,” Ienzo reassured him. “I just want answers. We just want answers. Don’t you think we deserve to know? After all the Organization’s been through thanks to you, or thanks to Xemnas...if you know what’s going on, don’t you think you should tell us the truth?”

Yes, perhaps it was a bit of a low blow, but Ienzo had never claimed to be above that.

The not-Xemnas winced, dropping his attempts at a mask and letting out a long sigh. Suddenly looking terribly exhausted, he motioned for Ienzo to sit down before limping over to the couch himself and sprawling on it with a relieved groan. Ienzo took a seat on one of the other chairs, almost amused at how different this person was, especially now that he’d dropped the act entirely. Who in the world was he?

“Alright,” he said, and Ienzo blinked, startled. Even his voice was different -- he’d stopped attempting to mimic Xemnas’s deep voice, and his own was younger, with a bit of a drawl to it that made him sound softer, somehow. “You got me. I figured it would come out sooner or later, and I guess if anyone caught on first it would be you. You’re real smart, y’know. Probably the smartest one here. It’s why he didn’t trust you.” He paused. “Uh...Ienzo, right? That’s your real name? I don’t really remember that part.”

Ienzo blinked. “Uh, yes, it’s Ienzo,” he said, now a bit confused. “What do you mean, you don’t remember _that part?_ And who do you mean by ‘him’?”

“It’s what it sounds like,” the not-Xemnas replied, rubbing his face with a hand. “There’s a lotta stuff I still don’t remember, and probably never will, but I remember being Xemnas. That’s who I mean by him.”

“Oh,” Ienzo said, and then leaned forward, suddenly startled. “Wait, hold on-- correct me if I’m wrong, but...I recall Xehanort having amnesia as well,” he said slowly. “Does that have anything to do with this?”

Not-Xemnas flinched visibly at the name ‘Xehanort’, but nodded slowly. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s...got everything t’do with that. You, uh...you might as well be the first to hear the whole story, I guess. Someone’s gotta know. And you might...you might be able to help me, anyway.” He laughed softly, an odd sound coming from a man with Xemnas’s face, but the more Ienzo looked at it, the more it was different. Not in the structure or the shape, but the expression, the softness of it. And when the not-Xemnas met Ienzo’s eyes, the eyes in that face were _blue_. “‘Cause I’m...pretty lost.”

“I’ll do my best,” Ienzo promised. “But that does mean I need to know what’s going on.”

Not-Xemnas nodded. “Thanks,” he said, sounding genuinely appreciative. “Right, so, uh...first of all, I’m not-- my name’s not Xehanort. Never was, and if I’ve got anything to say about it, never will be again.”

“Not Xehanort?” Ienzo questioned, but then his eyes widened. “He possessed you, like he did to Isa. Only...worse?”

The not-Xemnas sighed sadly. “A lot worse,” he confirmed. “From what little I know, uh-- with Isa and the others, he...it’s just a fragment of Xehanort’s heart. With me, it was _all_ of it.” He laughed weakly. “Just shoved it right in there, and I couldn’t stop him. I tried, but all I managed to do was piss him off enough for him to lock himself in there with me and...wipe our memories, I guess. But then he remembered, and that’s...I guess that’s when he hurt you guys.” He looked sad. “I dunno, my memories just restart as Xemnas, and even then they’re blurry, some. Still...”

Ienzo couldn’t help but pity him, lost and sad and clearly guilty over actions that weren’t his fault. “Xehanort’s actions weren’t your fault,” he said. “He had possessed you. It was your body, but not your actions. Don’t blame yourself.”

“Thanks,” not-Xemnas said. “But you don’t know what happened. It’s my fault for letting him in.”

Ienzo sighed. “Right,” he said, shaking his head. “So, then, do you plan on telling me what happened?”

“R-Right, yeah, I do,” the other man said with a sheepish laugh. “Sorry. I just-- I’m not so good at tellin’ stories. Guess I should start at the beginning, huh?”

Ienzo smiled. “Yes, that would be good. Why don’t you start with your name?”

“Oh,” he said. “Okay. That’s...that’s a good idea. My name’s Terra. It’s nice to meet you, Ienzo.” That said, she shifted, offering Ienzo his hand. Ienzo blinked, and then leaned forward to take it.

“It’s a pleasure, Terra,” he replied. “It’s good to have a name to call you-- you’ve had so many over the years, after all, it must be a relief to finally have your true name back.”

Terra sighed. “It is,” he agreed. “But-- the story, right.” He leaned back again and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m Terra,” he repeated, his tone almost as if he were confirming it to himself. “Ten years ago, I was a Keybearer, with my friends Aqua and Ven. We lived on a world called the Land of Departure with our Master, Eraqus. It was pretty good, and we were...happy.” He sighed, his eyes going distant with the memories -- Ienzo couldn’t say he didn’t understand. Looking back on happier times after so long was always bittersweet.

“It all really started the day of Aqua and I’s Mark of Mastery exam,” Terra continued. “We were taking the test to become real Keyblade Masters, something we’d been lookin’ forward to for ages -- Ven couldn’t, ‘cause he hadn’t been training for as long, but us two were. That day, Master Eraqus invited someone else to sit in on the exam -- his friend, a Keyblade Master named Xehanort.”

Ienzo’s eyes widened. “Wait-- Xehanort _was_ a Keyblade wielder, then?” He asked. “I had theorized that-- I remember seeing a Keyblade, but…” To know it for sure, that he had one...that was something else.

“Yeah,” Terra said. “He was. Anyway, the exam...Aqua passed, but I didn’t,” he said, and there was an odd sort of smile on his face. “It was ‘cause I used the Darkness,” he explained. “Master Eraqus didn’t trust the Darkness -- it was always bad, always evil, and you should never, ever use it. If you had it in you, you had to suppress it and extinguish it, because it was _wrong_.” He laughed. “I believed him, because I didn’t know anything else, and I felt-- _I_ felt wrong. Like I’d let him down. Because I was scared of losin’, because I was desperate for more power to protect my friends, I had Darkness in me, and it was wrong.”

He sighed. “I know now that that was wrong, too, but...at the time, it messed me up pretty bad. And that’s how Xehanort got me.” He snorted. “All he had to do was tell me that it was okay, that I was okay, that I could use the Darkness and it was okay to do that -- that I wasn’t bad for havin’ it in me...and I was pretty much doin’ whatever he said. By the time I realized it, it was...too late, I guess, to stop him from-- I killed my Master,” he admitted. “I killed him, even if it was Xehanort who struck the last blow, and I let Xehanort destroy my world and attack my friends. And then I lost to him, and he stole my body.”

He looked away, and then looked back at Ienzo. “But now it’s mine again, Ienzo, and even though I don’t know why...there’s stuff I have to do. There’s things I have to make right. There’s people I need to save.”

“You understand, right?” He asked, and Ienzo did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This had always been one of my favorite chapters, and it still doesn't disappoint. Terra's precious and sad and has learned a lot from his time as Xemnas, for better or worse, and Ienzo's just curious and intrigued. And OH GOD NOT THE BOOKS TERRA WHY. Yes, though, he did do what you think he did, and yes, it's going to come up again. 
> 
> Now, though...there's a lot more to talk about, isn't there? And the one-eyed elephant is still in the room.
> 
> Word Count Comparison: Original 1075 / Rewrite 2723


	7. More Truths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Ienzo's turn to fill Terra in on what he doesn't know, and after one last exchange of information, it's time to tell the others. If he can get to them, that is - once again, Ienzo knows too much, after all.

Ienzo sighed quietly, contemplating the information Terra had just given him. “So…” He said after a moment. “The last thing you remember, before Xemnas, then, is this battle with Xehanort?”

“Right,” Terra said. “I...don’t remember anything in between.” Braig hadn’t told him, either, he reflected -- though the older man had been giving him advice every so often, he hadn’t actually told him anything about Xehanort Terra didn’t already know. Not that he blamed him; he knew Braig’s situation.

Ienzo nodded. “I feel like you should know, then,” he said quietly. “It’s not a pretty tale, but it’s necessary.”

“I doubt it’s got a happy ending,” Terra replied with a bitter smile. “Nothin’ involving Xehanort does. But you’re right. I have to know.”

Ienzo had to agree -- the moment Xehanort entered their lives, it seemed as if it marked them for disaster. Nothing good came of the man, not for anyone. “We found the man called Xehanort in the Garden one day, with no memory of who he was or where he came from -- nothing except that name. My guardian, Ansem the Wise -- the king of Radiant Garden -- took him under his wing. Ansem was a scientist, studying the hearts of worlds, and Xehanort began to encourage it -- encourage us; Ansem, Even, and I. We soon began digging too deep into things most likely best left alone, the darkness in people’s hearts. At first it was perhaps just to see if we could find Xehanort’s lost memories, but…” He sighed. “I don’t know what he said to Even, but I know that...somehow, he had me believe I could restore the parents I’d lost, if I kept looking down this road. It was childish, but I was a child. And I believed him. We all did.” He shook his head.

“Ansem realized in time what the path we were on led to, and had us shut down the experiments, but we continued in secret, thanks to Xehanort’s encouragement. We did terrible things -- I won’t deny that. I can’t deny it. We weren’t just victims, we were accomplices -- unknowing accomplices, I’ll grant, but...we still did those things willingly.” He folded his hands in his lap. “In the end, we banished Ansem to the Realm of Darkness -- that was what made Even and I change our minds; we couldn’t do this anymore. He was our friend, our mentor, the man who’d taken me in after my family died. We realized then what we were doing was wrong, even if it was far too late, and when we confronted Xehanort, he struck us down and took our hearts.” He swallowed, shaking his head. “I imagine he did the same to Aeleus and Dilan when they came to investigate, though I don’t know how Braig lost his. And that’s when we all became Nobodies.”

Terra had fallen silent, eyes wide as Ienzo explained. “I’m sorry,” he managed after a second. “I-- shit. That’s…” He shook his head, a sad smile on his face. “He’s…good at tellin’ people what they want to hear, isn’t he? He tells you what you wanna hear, and that way you do exactly what he wants you t’do. An’ then it’s _your_ fault for doin’ it. He’s a manipulator. It’s…”

“That’s exactly it,” Ienzo said kindly. “So don’t be too hard on yourself. You aren’t the only one that fell for his tricks. I...regret what I’ve done, and so does Even, but...regret doesn’t fix it. _We_ fix it.”

“Right,” Terra said with a smile. “Makes sense.”

Ienzo nodded. “Of course it does,” he said with a soft laugh. “I always make sense.”

The two chuckled. “Now, if I can ask something a little odd?” Ienzo ventured, continuing off Terra’s nod. “Ven,” he began. “Did he...look like Roxas?”

Terra’s eyes widened. “Y-Yeah,” he said, leaning forward. “Ven looks _exactly_ like Roxas. Did you-- have you--”

“I met him once,” Ienzo explained, relieved. “He rescued me from some of those...little creatures, whatever they were. Even came to get me, and Ven mentioned he was looking for a friend of his. Taller and dressed like him-- I suppose that was you, then,” he noted with a smile. “Hm. A small world, isn’t it?”

Terra sat back with a soft smile. “Yeah,” he agreed. “You...never saw him again, after that? I...can’t seem to find anything solid about him in all Xemnas and Xehanort’s journals except guesses, an’...I know Xemnas didn’t know anything for sure.”

“Never again,” Ienzo replied, shaking his head. “But...I have another question.” He gestured at the closet. “That armor there-- is that Aqua’s? Where was it? The...Chamber of Repose?”

Terra jumped, startled, and glanced over at the closet with a look of almost ashamed embarrassment. “Yeah,” he admitted. “Xemnas visited her-- visited it a lot. He didn’t remember, but he...knew, I guess, ‘cause I was in there somewhere, that she was important to him. So I-- I went an’ got it as soon as I could. I want it to be here waitin’ for her, when I find her. It shouldn’t be locked up like that, like some kinda trophy. It’s not a _trophy_ , it’s...it’s my friend’s. It’s all I have left of her.”

He hesitated, and then rummaged in his coat, pulling out a battered, cracked looking pendant -- it was shaped like star, a dull orange, and it looked like it had seen a lot. “That and this,” he explained. “I...Xemnas kept it, an’ I guess I should be thankful for that. That what little there was of me in him knew to keep it. Aqua made it for me, like she made one for Ven and one for her -- good luck charms, she said, to keep us together. It was the last night we ever spent together, before all this happened.” He turned it around in his hands, and Ienzo thought it looked so fragile, perhaps because it was. A fragment of a lost past, clung to desperately to keep the memories alive. Terra slipped the charm back in his coat and looked up at Ienzo again. “I just...I know she’s in the Realm of Darkness somewhere,” he admits. “I remember that, somehow. But...I can’t find her. I don’t know where to start, an’ it’s been so long…”

“You’ll find her,” Ienzo reassured him. “You said she passed the exam, didn’t she? She’s a Keyblade Master. That means she’s strong enough to take care of herself. You’ll find her, and she’ll be alright. Don’t lose hope.”

Terra smiled. “Thanks, Ienzo,” he said. “And...really, thanks for listenin’. I’m glad you know all this, now, it’s...good to have someone who does.” He scratched his cheek. “I mean, there’s Braig, but...yeah.”

“Braig,” Ienzo repeated, wrinkling his nose. “I knew it. There’s been so many red flags, and his eye...what’s his story, Terra? What do you know?”

Terra sighed. “I know he’s workin’ for Xehanort,” He admitted. “Has always been, since I first met him. I dunno why he is, or what Xehanort offered, or any details about that. He won’t tell me. I don’t think he _can_.” He hesitated -- was this right? To tell Ienzo about this...about Braig, what was going on. But of course it was, he told himself. Ienzo had the right to know, and Braig, well...like he’d said, he wasn’t sure if Braig himself could tell them even if he wanted to.

“What I do know is that he’s workin’ for Xehanort for whatever reason,” he explained. “An’ he’s in on Xehanort’s plans, been in on ‘em all from the start. I dunno what that means for the time in Radiant Garden, but I know he was in on everything in the Organization. More so than Xemnas, sometimes, ‘cause of Xemnas’s memory problems. He pulled a lot of strings. Or Xehanort did, through him.”

Ienzo sighed. “So he _is_ possessed,” he said quietly.

“Yeah, sorta,” Terra said. “I think it’s...different. At least, it isn’t like Saïx. I know Braig’s got enough control over himself t’do whatever he wants and say whatever he wants, mostly, it’s not like anyone else. But I know Xehanort’s got eyes on me through him, whether Braig wants to be ‘em or not.” And he didn’t really know whether Braig wanted that. It was hard to tell. “But I definitely know he’s got a piece of Xehanort in him, so whether or not he wants t’do something, he might _have_ to.”

Well, that wasn’t reassuring, Ienzo decided. Maybe in that Braig might not be as willing an accomplice to Xehanort as he’d once been, but the fact that he still was under the man’s thumb was not a good thing. “And he knows you’re you, then,” Ienzo said, reflecting on the short conversation he’d had with the man previously. “I’m surprised he hasn’t done anything.”

“He hasn’t,” Terra agreed. “I dunno why. He’s just kinda...given me some advice, mostly. Given me a push when I was nervous to talk to all of you. It’s...weirdly reassuring? I dunno why he’s being so helpful, but it’s been nice.” He shrugged. “I mean, even if he wasn’t possessed, I didn’t think he’d be too fond of me, given what happened th’ first time we met.”

He looked sheepish all of a sudden, and Ienzo raised an eyebrow.

“What happened?” He prompted, and Terra reddened.

“Well, uh,” he began slowly. “Y’see. He kinda. We fought, y’know? And I got mad, and uh…” He laughed, lifting a hand to tap under his right eye. “I, uh. Mighta...the scars? My fault.”

Ienzo blinked, and despite the seriousness of the situation, he laughed. “Oh, is that what happened?” He asked. “Good lord, and here he was, telling us this horror story about how he was attacked by fifty of those creatures all at once, and it was an epic battle he barely escaped from with his life.” He stifled another snort. “And all this time, it was just a matter of him pissing off the wrong naive young Keybearer.”

“Hey!” Terra protested, though a faint smile settled on his face. “I’m-- well, I _was_ twenty. I’m not _that_ young. Not gonna argue the bit about bein’ naive, though, cause I was.” He shook his head. “Not anymore, but I was.”

Ienzo shook his head. “Are any of us still as naive as we were?” He asked. “After all we’ve been through, it’s hard to keep hold of any innocence we might once have had.”

“Yeah,” Terra agreed. “We’re all older now, and we’ve seen a lot. But...even if we can’t go back, we can try to fix what we did wrong, right? And then maybe we can have time to, I dunno...fix ourselves? When it’s all over.”

Ienzo nodded. “When it’s all over,” he agreed, and stood up. “Now, I should be heading back to the others. They weren’t too pleased with my idea to come visit, and I should let them know their concern was unwarranted. You’re quite harmless -- to us, at least.”

“To _you_ ,” Terra agreed, standing as well with a wince. “I’m gonna...rest up a bit, an’ then I’ll come meet you and the others, an’ we can talk about what to do. Take care of yourself, and be careful about Braig, alright?”

Ienzo nodded. “I will,” he promised. “And you take care, too. Don’t overwork yourself -- that won’t help anyone.”

“I won’t,” Terra said, sinking back down onto the couch. “Thanks again, Ienzo.”

“No need to thank me,” Ienzo replied. “Not yet, anyway.”

That said, he opened a corridor and stepped through, heading back to Even’s lab in the kitchens. He had to hurry -- it was obvious that Braig knew that Ienzo would be finding out the truth, and he couldn’t risk the gunman taking matters into his own hands before he got the story to the other apprentices. Because whether or not they were his friends, as long as Braig had that fragment of Xehanort in him, he was their enemy.

Exiting the corridor, his eyes widened upon finding the kitchen not just empty, but an uncharacteristic mess. “Even!” He yelped, concern gripping his fledgling heart. “Oh, no, please tell me you just set off an Aero spell, you idiot,” he muttered to himself. “Of all the times-- you go and tell _me_ to be careful, and then you-- Even, _really?”_

He picked his way hurriedly through the chaos towards the walk-in freezer, knowing that they’d started to clear some of it out in preparation for making this an actual lab and hoping beyond hope that that’s where Even was.

He never made it. About halfway there, stumbling over a fallen pot, he heard a faint pop -- he had just enough time for his heart to sink in realization before a pair of hands grabbed him from behind, one wrapping around his waist and the other pressing over his mouth, and there was a pop as space distorted around him, disorienting and instantaneous -- nothing like a corridor, dizzying and stomach-churning -- and then they were elsewhere.

Ienzo was pushed forward and he stumbled, catching himself on hands and knees and pushing himself upwards, only to freeze, eyes wide and heart nearly skipping a beat as he felt the barrel of a gun press against the back of his neck.

“Don’t move, squirt,” Braig’s voice echoed above him, far more solemn than he’d ever heard it before. “I don’t want to do this, but it’s lookin’ more and more like I have to. You keep finding out too much, man. It’s a bad habit, and for once in your _goddamn life_ \--” He hears Braig have to cut himself off, startled at the emotion in the older man’s voice. “For once in your life, couldn’t you have listened to Even and stayed out of it? Couldn’t you have just been a goddamn fuckin’ kid like you’re _supposed_ to be and listened to the grown-ups?”

“Braig--” Ienzo tried, but cut himself off with a stifled noise of fear as the gun pressed into his neck more forcefully.

“Don’t,” Braig said harshly. “Not a _word_. I don’t wanna hear anything you’re gonna say. I can’t. You had your chance to make it out of this, and you didn’t take it, and now it has to come to this.” He could hear Braig take a breath, sharp and rasping. “Just-- don’t scream, Mouse,” he asked softly, Ienzo flinching at the nickname from his childhood, the one Braig and Xigbar both hadn’t used in years. “Don’t scream. It’ll-- it’ll be quick.”

Ienzo winced, curling his hands into fists as the tip of the gun grew warm against his skin. Scared, that was all he could register. He was _scared_. And god, oh god, he thought frantically. He didn’t want to die.

He didn’t want to die, not like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Insert cliffhanger here (that's not much of one given I'm about to start chapter 8 now). But yes, be ready, because this is where the set of chapters I like to call 'Being Braig Is Suffering' begins. I've put way too much effort into this one-eyed trashcan, and I can't wait. In the meantime, ENJOY THE TERROR AND SUFFERING.
> 
> And also enjoy Terra and Ienzo bonding over being kids thrown in over their heads, though. They're really sweet and I like their friendship already. Ienzo needs a friend his age-ish, and Terra needs one, fullstop. 
> 
> Word Count Comparison: Original 1112 / Rewrite 2483


	8. Confronted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cornered by Braig, a gun to his head -- Ienzo has to think fast to get out of this. But what will he see if he uses his powers, and is using this knowledge going too far?

Ienzo could feel tears prickling at the edges of his closed eyes, hands curled into fists, and he waited. There was nothing he could do, was there, and now he--

The shot rang out.

It took Ienzo a second to realize that he was still breathing, and he used that chance to throw himself forward, scrambling away from Braig and turning around to face him as soon as he could. The arrowgun had gone off, yes, but he could see the shimmering purple-pink bullet buried in the ground several feet to his left. He glanced at it and then back at Braig, who stood there still with the gun raised, gripping it so tightly that it shook. His other hand was at his side, curled in a fist, and the look in his eye was...conflicted. Pained, almost, but determined.

“Well?” Ienzo managed, his voice somehow far calmer than he was. “I thought you were-- I thought you were going to kill me.”

Braig growled through a clenched jaw. “Shut up,” he said sharply, his own voice rough.

Somehow that managed to ease Ienzo’s frayed nerves somewhat, that Braig was struggling. Maybe there was a chance to get out of this. He might have to twist a knife or two, but he’d never been above that, and he couldn’t afford not to. It was that or die, and he was afraid that despite Braig’s hesitance, he wouldn’t miss again.

“You-- you said you were going to,” he continued, pressing on despite the tremor in his voice. “Why didn’t you? Are you-- feeling guilty? I can’t imagine why. It’s not like you didn’t let me die twice before already...”

Braig hissed. “I said _shut up!”_ He snarled, firing another shot -- this one veering to the right, but making Ienzo let out a cry of surprise and duck away from it.

Ienzo was shaking, but he couldn’t stop talking -- this was his only chance, the one thing he could do. “Do you feel some kind of attachment?” He asked shakily. “Some kind of conflict? If you do it’s a little late for that, you know...after everything you’ve done.”

“I liked you better when you were _mute_ ,” Braig hissed. “I’m not gonna miss again, Ienzo.”

Ienzo managed a weak, trembling smile. “Then why did you miss twice already?” He asked. “You know that if I have a moment, I’ll escape. And then everyone will know.”

“You keep diggin’ your grave, Mouse,” Braig warned. “Don’t think I won’t do it just ‘cause I’m-- don’t think I’m not prepared to do it.”

“Then do it,” Ienzo challenged, a flare of anger lighting in his chest. “Do it. Kill me and watch what happens next. Watch Aeleus and Dilan and Even react. Watch them find out what you are, what you did. Go ahead and dig your grave by digging mine, Braig. I _dare_ you.”

Braig swallowed. “You’re a clever little shit, aren’t you?” He asked. “You’re scared, I can tell, but you’re still talking back like you think you’re gonna get out of this. Always knew you were trouble.”

“Why?” Ienzo asked, struggling to his feet despite his fear. “Because of my mind? Or because of what else I can do?”

There. One moment, caught off guard. “What--” Braig began, eye widening a fraction too late as he realized what Ienzo meant.

His element, the power that had come with the loss of his heart, that thankfully he still had. _Illusions_. The ability to reach into someone’s head, pull out their memories and paint them on the air. To create something from nothing, images and sounds and hallucinations, whatever he wanted his opponent to see. The perfect power for a child whose talents had always been in his imagination, who knew the power of words and pictures.

He had sworn to himself early on that he would never use it on the other Organization members, especially not the others from the Garden. It was an invasion of privacy, a violation of the minds of those he cared about. He didn’t want to do that. But now-- oh, but now there was no such compunction. He could smell the air grow thick with his own magic, clean and pure and sharp, and he reached into Braig’s mind viciously, not caring if he hurt the older man.

* * *

_“No!” A scream, raw and animalistic, gloved hands digging at empty, bloody dirt. “Jasper! Aisling! No, please God no! Please no!” Dark hair soaked with rain, a red scarf the brightest spot of color as the man on hands and knees clawed at the ground as if the people he sought were just beneath him. “No, please! No, don’t-- you can’t-- no!” He begged, devastated. “Come back! Come back! Aisling! Jasper, come back! Come back, please come back, where are you-- oh God, where are you---” His voice broke and he crumbled, folding in on himself and dissolving into broken sobs. “Come back,” he whispered, the voice of a shattered soul. “Please come back…”_

* * *

 Ienzo reeled back, staggering slightly as that one single memory struck him with the force of a bullet in itself. “Braig--” He choked out, eyes wide. That memory, it was-- he hadn’t expected-- what _was_ that?

Braig had dropped his gun, looking for all the world like he’d been gutted, eye wide and face drained of color. “You--” He choked out, and before Ienzo could react his whole demeanor changed, and his expression shifted into one he’d never seen before in all years he’d known the man. Pure, unfiltered _rage_.

He closed the distance between himself and Ienzo in a few short strides, and Ienzo tried to stumble backwards -- it wasn’t enough, and Braig’s fist connected with his face viciously, sending Ienzo sprawling to the ground with a gasp. Oh, that _hurt_ \-- Ienzo scrambled to get away from Braig, who advanced on him further, until he bumped into a wall and huddled there, eyes wide as a hand probed the quickly forming bruise and split lip.

“How _dare_ you,” Braig snarled, standing over him like a harbinger of death. “How fuckin’ _dare_ you think you can just stick your little _paws_ into my memories for your mind-games and think that’s gonna get you out of this. How fuckin’ _dare_ you. Those are none of your goddamn _business_ , you little shit. Do you understand?! _None of your business!”_

Ienzo nodded quickly, shakily. “I-I understand,” he said hurriedly. “I do, I won’t-- I’m sorry, Braig. I won’t--”

Braig ignored him, clearly seeing red as he reached down to grab Ienzo by the collar. Ienzo struggled, terror overriding any logical reaction, squirming to get out of his grasp. What was he supposed to do, what could he _possibly_ do when he’d made Braig so furiously angry--

It was then that panicked eyes, searching desperately for a way out, recognized where he was. An out of the way, empty chamber in the Radiant Garden castle. Dusty with disuse, but still one he knew. Of course he did -- this was his _home_. Braig had brought him home to die.

That was enough to push him from terror into anger of his own, and enough for him to decide that he didn’t care if he hurt Braig. He was going to die no matter what the did, it seemed, and he didn’t care if he caused Braig pain -- this was wrong, this wasn’t right, and he was angry. Angry enough not to care about what this would do. Immature and childish, of course, but he just didn’t _care_.

“You were going to kill me _here?”_ He choked out. “In our _home?_ That’s enough--that’s _enough_.”

He focused on the fragments of memories he’d pulled from Braig’s mind, snatching up a figure in them and dressing himself in their image. This was going to hurt, and this was going to be cruel and terrible and so very wrong, he knew it -- but if it saved his life, he didn’t care. Maybe he was irreparably broken, a child so ruined by growing up without a heart that he never would be right again, but...it didn’t matter. Not now.

He watched Braig’s eye widen, color flee his face as his hands slackened, dropping Ienzo to the ground and backing up, expression twisting into an anguished mask. “No,” he croaked. “No, no, _no_ , Ienzo, turn it off.”

“No,” Ienzo hissed. “No, I _won’t_. You did this to yourself, Braig.”

Braig flinched visibly, backing up further and holding his hands up as if trying to fend Ienzo off. “Stop, please,” he moaned. “Ienzo, god, don’t do this, stop it, turn it off, _please_ , I’m sorry--”

Ienzo scrambled to his feet, taking a vindictive step towards Braig, who backed up further, looking physically ill. “Stop, oh god, stop it,” he begged Ienzo. “ _Please_...”

Ienzo didn’t stop, advancing on Braig until he had the older man pressed against the wall, trembling -- Braig seemed to shatter, sliding down the wall and staying there, burying his face in his hands. That was it, then, Ienzo decided, and stepped back, dropping the illusion.

He took a deep, steadying breath, running hands through his hair, and made to go, but a soft noise stopped him. Was Braig-- oh, god, was Braig crying? He froze, turning back to the slumped figure, unable to tell.

“Braig?” He called quietly, guilt bubbling up in his chest, but there was no response. He turned again, and a voice stopped him -- Braig’s voice, but speaking in a language he didn’t recognize.

“ _Tá brón orm, Jasper, ná seo a dhéanamh,_ ” Braig whispered brokenly. “ _Tá brón orm_.”

Well, Ienzo decided uncomfortably. That might not have been the best course of action, looking back. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly, edging out of the room and shaking his head. He’d gone too far, he’d really gone too far. But he couldn’t think about that right now, not when he had something to tell the others, something twice as important now.

He turned to open a portal, hand halfway in the air before he felt someone grab his shoulder tight enough to hurt and he froze.

“Braig?” He asked weakly, swallowing as he looked slowly up and behind him, catching the bitter scent of Darkness in the air.

No-- he realized, as his vision went abruptly black. Not Braig. Someone he didn’t know, someone with eyes of bright yellow-gold, someone smiling calmly at him...someone _old_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, did I do a sad? I did a sad. I did lots of sads. Braig isn't okay, honestly. And Ienzo kind of feels terrible about it?? But at the same time he did what he had to and he's okay with that. This poor kid is so messed up. They're both messed up. This is all messed up. You'll find out more about Jasper later, promise. Soon. In the meantime, it's time to fucking panic because hello Big Bad.
> 
> Translation notes: _'Tá brón orm, Jasper, ná seo a dhéanamh'_ = 'I'm sorry, Jasper, please don't do this.'
> 
> Word Count Comparison: Original 840 / Rewrite 1734


	9. Xehanort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the appearance of Xehanort, Terra proves himself much changed after his ten years -- though that isn't enough to faze the old master. And with Ienzo unconscious and Braig prepared to do something foolish -- who's going to help Terra explain himself to the others?

Braig was still in the same position, curled against the wall, when Xehanort entered the room. He glanced up, and then did a double-take, eye widening.

The old master held Ienzo under one arm, the boy’s figure dangling limp. “Ienzo!” Braig managed, scrambling to his feet.

“I was under the impression that your intent was to kill him,” Xehanort said softly. “Why, then, did he leave this room? And why are you simply sitting here?” He tossed Ienzo’s still body to the side, the boy crumpling to the ground and moaning quietly, his head lolling to the side with the bruise from Braig’s fist still stark against his skin.

Braig swallowed. “I…” He began, and then he shook his head. “No. I’m not going to kill him,” he told Xehanort, shifting to stare at the man defiantly. “I’m not doing it. If you want him dead so bad, old man, _you_ kill him.”

“Oh?” Xehanort raised an eyebrow. “Do you feel confident in disobedience, then? You were given an order, and I expected you to carry it out, as you have always done so dutifully before. What makes this one so very different from all the others, I wonder.”

Braig paused, shaking his head. “Nothin’,” he muttered, calling his gun back to his hand. “It makes no difference at all.”

Except that now he couldn’t look at Ienzo without seeing another face, another boy, and it caught his breath in his throat and stilled his hand. He couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t do it.

Xehanort glanced at him sidelong and shook his head, the picture of a disappointed father. “Very well,” he said. “We’ll discuss this in time. For now, however, it seems I will have to take matters into my own hands. You’ve made this more difficult than it has to be.”

He summoned his Keyblade, lifting it into the air and preparing to strike -- for a split moment, Braig was frozen, gun rising and pointing at Xehanort even as time seemed to slow. Could he take the shot, would the old man let him, what was he _doing_ \---?

Before either man could finish their move, a corridor opened in the room, a silver-haired figure barreling out of it, skidding across the floor to parry Xehanort’s Keyblade with one of his own -- one Braig didn’t recognize at first, a thin blue and white one that didn’t seem to match Terra at all. No, he realized, it was the _girl’s_. The Keyblade with the armor.

“Xehanort!” Terra roared, and Braig stepped back, eye wide. Oh, _shit_.

The old man didn’t seem that concerned, though, batting Terra’s Keyblade away. The young man jumped back, standing protectively over Ienzo and glaring at Xehanort, face contorted in rage.

“You stay _away_ from him!” Terra snarled, Darkness already flickering across his skin as he braced the Keyblade in both hands, the thin weapon not sized quite right for him. “He’s not yours to kill, Xehanort! I won’t let you hurt anyone else!”

Xehanort smiled. “Ah, Terra,” he said approvingly. “I see that you have come to accept your Darkness. That’s good, very good.”

“I can accept it because I’ve _lived_ with it for ten years,” Terra growled. “Not because of _you!_ This is _my_ Darkness, _my_ power -- not yours! It was never yours! And it never will be! I’m not afraid of myself anymore, and I won’t make the same mistakes twice!”

He whipped around to face Braig, still frozen and faltering. “You stay out of this,” he told Braig, voice only gentler by a fraction, and Braig had to admit that he was genuinely _scared_ . Terra had taken his eye out ten years ago, but that had been a confused, naive child. This Terra was older, wiser, and had ten years of being _Xemnas_ under his belt. This Terra was dangerous. “I’m cutting you slack, Braig,” he continued. “But if you try to help him, I’ll take your other eye out before you can fire a single bullet.”

Braig swallowed and dismissed his gun, backing up a step. “Got it, boss,” he said with a weak smile, and he realized with a start that he meant that nickname-- or at least, he meant it more than he’d ever meant it when he’d used it on Xemnas.

Terra nodded once, sharply, and whipped around to face Xehanort again. “As for you,” he growled. “You’re gonna tell me _exactly_ what you know about Ven-- what did you and Vanitas do to Ven, and where is he?! What do Sora and Roxas have to do with him?! _Tell me!”_

“You think I know, then,” Xehanort mused aloud. “How presumptuous. Or perhaps it is flattering. But meaningless either way. You know I will not tell you -- no, of course not. Why, when it is so much easier to allow you to throw yourself headlong into the Darkness for their sake once again. You may have been freed once, Terra, but you will still be my first and most precious vessel, and you will be mine again. Perhaps not now, but you will be.”

 _“Never!”_ Terra snarled. It was startling to see the differences -- it was Xemnas’s face, still, though it was blue-eyed, but his body language, his expression, it was all so _human_ , so full of emotion and anger. “I will _never_ be your vessel again! I have people to protect now -- I have to find Aqua and Ven, I have to save the Organization, I have to stop _you_ , and make right everything I let you destroy! No matter what it takes, no matter how much I may destroy myself doing it, I will _never_ let you win, and I _will_ defeat you, Xehanort! I will follow you to the _ends of the earth_ if I have to, and I will make sure you _never_ come back! _Do you hear me?!”_ His eyes blazed, the blue Keyblade alight with dark fire. “I will not stop until _I tear your plans apart!_ I will _never_ be used by you again!”

Xehanort just smirked, seemingly unfazed by Terra’s furious outburst. “By all means,” he invited. “Do so, Terra. I will be waiting for you when you reach me, should you do so, and I will be waiting for you to fall into the depths of your own Darkness. It is only a matter of time.”

With that said he dismissed his Keyblade and bowed almost mockingly. “Steep yourself in your Darkness and come to me, Terra, and become my vessel once again. I am a patient man, and I will be waiting.”

A corridor opened behind him and he disappeared into it, backing into it even as Terra let out a bellow of rage and tried to leap through it after him. “Shit!” Braig yelped, darting forward to grab Terra around the waist. “Calm down, kid, don’t let him bait you! C’mon!”

Terra nearly elbowed Braig in the face in his initial struggles, but after a moment he sagged, dismissing his borrowed Keyblade and letting his head drop. “Sorry,” he murmured. “I just--”

“S’fine,” Braig reassured him. “After everything he’s put you through, you kinda have a right to flip your shit. But you said it yourself, you’ve got friends to find and a bunch of crazy ex-Nobodies to babysit. You can’t afford to jump headfirst into a portal just to chase the guy down first thing. You’ve got a job to do.”

Terra sucked in a long breath, trying to steady himself, and Braig watched the darkness flicker away from his body. “I’m okay,” he said, and Braig let go, allowing Terra to straighten and adjust his coat. “Thanks. I...wasn’t thinkin’ clearly. I just saw him and I-- everything he did, I just…” He gritted his teeth and shook his head, running a hand through his hair. “Glad you were here.”

“Yeah,” Braig said distractedly. “Look, Terra,” he began suddenly, startling the other man by the use of his real name. “Take the kiddo back to the hotel. Tell the others everything. I know you’ll take care of them, and I know you’ll be an alright leader so long as you’re honest, and, uh... _you_. You got this.”

Terra blinked, face falling. “Braig, what are you saying?”

“I’m going after Xehanort. Alone.”

“What?!” Terra’s eyes widened. “No, you can’t do that! You just told _me_ it was too dangerous, and now you’re-- and what’s more, you’re a _vessel!_ What the hell do you think you can do?”

Braig turned to look at Terra. “I am,” he agreed. “Which is exactly why he’s not gonna see this coming. He thinks I’m loyal, and he doesn’t think he has anything to fear, because I’m not stupid enough to pull something like this. So that’s why I _can_. I don’t have much time before he catches on, so I gotta do this now, though, Terra.” He hesitated, turning fully to put a hand on Terra’s shoulder. “Thank you,” he said, his voice softer. “You’re a decent kid, and I’m sorry this shit happened. You and the other keykids...you’ve got this, though. You’re all better than this old man ever was.”  He sounded almost mournful. “Do it for me, alright? Do it for the idiot who screwed everything up a long time ago.”

“Braig…?” Terra asked, and the gunman didn’t respond at first, but then leaned in to whisper in Terra’s ear for a few moments. Terra’s eyes widened at first, and then softened. “Braig, I--”

Braig shook his head. “Just...tell them what I told you, okay?” He asked. “They deserve to know why I fucked it all up.” He smiled, and it didn’t reach his eye. “Good luck, Terra. I’m rootin’ for you-- even if I never thought I would.”

With that said, he flashed Terra a salute, and was gone with nothing but a faint pop of air.

Terra remained there for a long moment, silently processing everything Braig had just told them, and then he sighed. “Damn,” he muttered. “I wish...I wish I’d known sooner. Good luck, Braig.”

He doubted the man would come back alive, but...it was something he could hope for, at least.

He bent and picked Ienzo up, checking him carefully to make sure he wasn’t too badly hurt -- aside from the bruise on his cheek and a little blood on his lip, he was fine, thankfully, simply unconscious.

“C’mon,” he said gently. “Let’s get you somewhere safe. Then we can figure out what to do from here.”

He opened a corridor and stepped through into the makeshift lab, nudging a few scattered cooking utensils with his foot. “What happened here?” He wondered to himself, putting Ienzo down on one of the counters to bend over and examine the floor.

The sound of a boot against the floor made him freeze and he stood, turning around with barely enough time to react as a spear ripped through the air and into his shoulder, sending him halfway across the room and slamming hard against a wall.

He let out a hiss of pain, hand coming up to the weapon sticking out of him and pinning him to the wall a foot in the air only to freeze again as a large hand slammed into his collarbone and neck, cutting off his air supply.

His eyes widened as he took in the sight before him. Aeleus, hand on his throat and nearly crushing his windpipe; Dilan, right behind him with another spear in his hand; and Even in the back, shield summoned and standing protectively in front of Ienzo’s unconscious body. And all of them looked _furious_.

“Oh,” Terra gasped out. Oh, shit. This...this was going to be trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then Terra pretty much realized he was going to die LMAO. First of all this chapter's subtitle should be "Terra puts the 'terra' in 'terrifying': the chapter", really, because god fucking damn, he even scared me. It's beautiful and intense and this is what happens when he remembers Xemnas. Whoo boy. And then MORE FORESHADOWING ABOUT BRAIG, YAY! Don't worry, though, his flashback will happen, oh...let's say Chapter 11? Give or take, at least. Be ready.
> 
> In the meantime, Terra has to deal with three very angry ex-Nobodies. Fun!
> 
> Word Count Comparison: Original 558 / Rewrite 1948


	10. Misunderstanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very deadly comedy of errors; the remaining original members take Terra's presence with Ienzo the wrong way, and Terra is in trouble. Thankfully Ienzo has a decent head on his shoulders once he's awake, but...what does Terra have to say about Braig?

_“You,”_ Dilan snarled over Aeleus’s shoulder, and if Terra had the presence of mind to, he’d be absolutely terrified. As it was, he was more focused on being able to breathe, which was at this point a losing battle with the Silent Hero’s massive hand pressed against his neck.

“You backstabbing, traitorous _bastard_ ,” Dilan continued, face contorted in rage. “Everything you’ve done to us, everything you’ve done in the past ten years, and that isn’t enough for you, is it?! That isn’t _enough--_ what did you do to Ienzo?!”

Terra cringed backwards even further into the wall, eyes flickering to Even, whose own face looked even more murderous, if that was possible. “If you’ve harmed one single hair on his head,” the scientist hissed. “I swear to _god_ , Xehanort, _you’ll choke on your own frozen breath.”_

“I--” Terra coughed, struggling to speak. “It’s not-- _listen_ , I--”

Aeleus cut him off, pressing his windpipe closed again. “The time for listening to you has long since passed,” he rumbled, even the quietest of the trio visibly angry. “All we’ll get is excuses and lies.”

“No--!” Terra tried, wheezing hoarsely and kicking frantically against the wall. _“Please_ , just--”

Dilan snorted, stepping forward with lance in hand, eyeing the other that was still embedded in both Terra’s shoulder and the wall. “What do you say to simply ending him here and now for what he’s done?” He suggested viciously.

 _Oh shit_ , Terra thought frantically. “No, Dilan, please, I--” He tried one last time, barely able to speak around the hand at his throat. “Hear me out, _please--_ ”

“Oh, no, not this time,” Dilan growled. “We’ve let you manipulate us for far too long. _No more_.”

No, no, this was going all wrong. Terra struggled vainly in Aeleus’ grip, clawing at the bigger man’s hand. They wouldn’t listen, and Ienzo was unconscious, and Braig was gone and even if Braig were here, they wouldn’t listen to _him_ , either. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t fight _back_ , that would damn him even more!

“Please,” he choked out one last time, but that seemed to be enough, as Aeleus shifted his grip, stepping backwards and throwing Terra clear across the room. He slammed hard against a row of appliances, hard enough to dent them -- hard enough to _break_ them -- and rolled onto the floor, coughing and gasping for air, clutching at his chest and the probable broken ribs he’d just sustained.

He tried to scramble to his feet only to find the floor below him had turned to slick ice. He slid on hands and knees with a yelp, barely stifling a cry as the spear still in his shoulder finally ripped out of him, flying back into Dilan’s extended hand as he approached.

“Don’t _do_ this,” Terra begged, sliding on the ice and trying to crawl back up by using the ruined stoves as leverage, but a spear burying itself in his hand stopped that, and he let out a cry, slumping to the ground with the point of the spear pinning his hand to the top of the stove.

The other spear followed soon after, pinning his leg to the floor, and then Dilan was on him, a fist slamming hard into Terra’s face, bouncing it off the stove behind him. Terra saw stars, free hand trying to fend off the other man, but he could barely think straight, let alone defend himself.

He squeezed his eyes shut, grimacing as he braced for a third blow, but before Dilan could strike again, Ienzo’s voice rang out through the kitchen, stopping everyone dead.

“What the hell is going on?!” The young man cried, having pushed himself up to a sitting position. “What are you _doing?!_ Stop! Dilan, Aeleus, _stop!”_

Even whipped around. “Ienzo!” He cried, relieved. “Are you alright? Did he hurt you? I _told_ you--”

Ienzo turned on Even, looking livid. _“No,”_ he snarled. _“He_ didn’t hurt me -- which you’d _know_ , if you’d actually, I don’t know, let him speak?! Clearly you _didn’t_ , because he’s over there barely conscious! Damn it, all of you, _this_ is why I was supposed to speak to you first!”

“I, ah--” Even had the grace to look sheepish, and Aeleus paused, but Dilan didn’t seem convinced from his spot on top of Terra.

“Then who did?” He asked pointedly. “Ienzo, you have to admit this is all _ridiculously_ suspicious. The three of us leave for an hour or so and come back to a trashed kitchen, _and_ he’s standing over you. You could be misremembering--”

Ienzo groaned. “I’m not misremembering anything!” He snapped. “I came directly back to the kitchen when I finished speaking to the man you’re currently using as a punching bag, and you three were gone -- and it was _already_ a mess! And that was before--” He sighed, frustrated. “Look, Dilan. Get off him. He’s not our enemy. We’ll explain everything, but you have to trust us.”

The three men looked at each other as Ienzo slid off the counter, leaning against it with his arms crossed, and finally, Even sighed. “Alright, Ienzo,” he agreed, waving a hand and making the ice-slick floor clear again. “We’ll trust _you_. Dilan…?”

 _“Fine.”_ Dilan grumbled, standing up and snapping his fingers, dismissing his spears before grabbing Terra by his uninjured arm and hauling him off to the counter Ienzo stood by, dumping him unceremoniously on it. “Here he is. Do what you will, but I still don’t trust him.”

Ienzo sighed. “Thank you,” he muttered, shifting to check on Terra. “Are you alright-- oh,” he said, frowning. “Good lord, they did a number on you. And you didn’t even try to defend yourself?”

“No,” Terra replied weakly, letting himself simply lie back on the counter, wincing. “I didn’t wanna make it worse.”

Ienzo groaned. “Yes, and by not making it worse, you nearly got _killed_ ,” he scolded, beginning to cast Curaga. _“Really_ , Terra. I expected a little more common sense.” After a moment, though, he paused and shook his head. “Then again, none of you have any common sense right now. I can’t even-- _really_ ,” he muttered.

The three others watched their exchange with no small amount of confusion, and it was Aeleus who spoke first. “Terra?” He asked. “Who’s _Terra_ , now?”

“Me,” Terra answered, wincing as he sat up -- the Curaga had patched him up almost perfectly, but he wouldn’t lie; he still had a nasty headache, and he had a feeling he’d have a few bruises in short order. “I’m Terra. I was tryin’ to tell you guys, I’m not...I’m not Xemnas. _Or_ Xehanort. He possessed me, too, but now I’m-- Xemnas dyin’ freed me.” He paused, rubbing his head. “I was-- I _tried_ to tell you, but you weren’t listening.”

Even had the grace to flush with embarrassment, Aeleus coughing awkwardly, and Dilan grumbled to himself, crossing his arms. “We’re, ah...I apologize for our hastiness, Terra,” Aeleus said at last. “We’re...more prepared to listen now, if you’d explain what you and Ienzo were meaning to tell us.”

“It’s alright,” Terra said with a soft laugh. “I mean, I woulda kicked my ass too, if I’d caught me the way you did. It looked pretty bad. I’m just glad Ienzo woke up in time.” He shifted, wincing again, and let his legs dangle off the counter, crossing his arms. “But there’s a lot I need to tell you, and I hope-- well, I’ll get to that last, I guess.” He’d give Braig the benefit of the doubt and a chance to come back alive, first.

Even nodded. “Start from the beginning, Terra,” he encouraged. “Who are you, exactly?”

“Right,” Terra said. “Anyway, uh. Like I said, my name’s Terra. I’m from a world called the Land of Departure, where I lived with my friends Aqua and Ven, and our master, Eraqus. We were -- are -- all Keybearers.” He paused to let that sink in, watching three pairs of eyes widen. “My master had a friend, another Keyblade Master named Xehanort, an’ this all started on the day Aqua and I took our test to become Keyblade Masters ourselves.”

He shook his head. “You don’t need t’hear the whole story of how bad I screwed everything up, but the basic gist of what I know is that Xehanort wants...somethin’ to do with the Keyblade War and Kingdom Hearts, and he was usin’ my friends and I as parts of his plan.” He sighed. “My part was to become his vessel, an’ he definitely succeeded there. He stuck his heart in my body, an’ though I fought back, he locked us _both_ up in there -- which is why I guess he didn’t remember anything when he ended up i Radiant Garden, like Ienzo told me.”

“Like Ienzo told you?” Even asked, curious.

Terra nodded. “I still don’t remember anything about Radiant Garden,” he explained. “My memories stop when Xehanort possessed me, an’ start up again when my body became Xemnas. I guess ‘cause I was still... _in_ here somewhere? I’m not too good at this kinda thing,” he admitted. “I do remember the past ten years as Xemnas, though.” He scratched his cheek. “Best I’ve been able to figure is after Sora and Riku kicked my -- kicked _his_ ass, that stuck Xehanort’s heart and body together since Sora’d already killed our Heartless, and he was able to ditch me an’ get his own body back. And I’m _me_ again, heart an’ all, but…” He shifted. “He doesn’t plan on me stayin’ that way.”

“You’ve spoken to Xehanort?” Aeleus asked, concerned. “Was he _here?”_

“No,” Terra said. “He was, uh--” He paused, glancing at Ienzo, who sighed and nodded, picking up the thread of the explanation.

“He was in Radiant Garden just now, which was where we were,” Ienzo explained. “When I returned here to the kitchen after speaking to Terra initially, Braig was waiting for me -- he brought me to Radiant Garden, and though I believe he intended to silence me, I…” He trailed off, shifting guiltily. “I stopped him. Though I’m not sure if it was truly what he wanted to do in the first place.”

Dilan growled under his breath as Even let out a surprised curse. _“Braig,”_ he snarled. “He tried to _kill_ you? That son of a _bitch_.”

“Like I said,” Ienzo reminded him. “He didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about it, and it was fairly easy to stop him, even if I--” He coughed. “I may have gone somewhat overboard, I think.”

Even snorted. “Serves him right,” he muttered. “Obnoxious fool.”

“Even,” Aeleus admonished, before turning back to Ienzo and Terra. “So Ienzo, you prevented Braig from killing you, and then...Xehanort arrived? And when did you get there, Terra?”

Ienzo nodded. “All I remember is that I stopped Braig and tried to leave, only to be stopped and knocked unconscious by Xehanort,” he explained. “Terra will have to tell you the rest.”

“Okay,” Terra said, and ran a hand through his hair. “I got worried pretty quick, _uh_ \--” He coughed. This was going to be terribly hard to admit, as he’d never done so before, but it was the only way to explain. “I...have, um... _premonitions_ , sometimes. It’s weird. I just...see stuff before it happens, or have bad feelings. Nothin’... _detailed_ , just vague pictures or feelings. And I just...I just _knew,_ all of a sudden, that somethin’ was going on with Ienzo, so I opened a corridor and went in, an’...there he was.”

He shook his head. “Ienzo was out cold, Xehanort was about t’kill him, an’ Braig was pointing his gun at Xehanort,” he explained. “I’ll...admit, I kinda lost it for a bit, and if Braig hadn’t stopped me I woulda leapt right through Xehanort’s portal after he left.” He snorted. “I know he’s done a lotta shit, but...he’s helped me a lot the past couple days, an’ he did turn around and try to protect Ienzo.”

“That isn’t enough for me,” Dilan muttered. “It’s too little too late if he wants to make amends for everything he’s already done. He betrayed us, his _friends_ , and he’s never even told us why. He keeps so many damned secrets, and who’s to say whose side he was _ever_ on? I wouldn’t trust him, if I were you, Terra.”

Terra sighed. “I know,” he admitted. “I know it’s hard for anyone to trust him, an’ I know he knows that, too. But...that’s the other thing I need to tell you. What he told me to tell you before we split up.”

“Split up?” Aeleus asked. “Where did he go, Terra?”

“He went to confront Xehanort,” Terra said simply, and the four others all spun to stare at him, faces identically shocked.

 _“What?!”_ Even demanded. “He did-- he-- _what?!_ That’s _insane!_ A _fool’s_ errand! He’s possessed! Xehanort will know he’s coming, and that’s on _top_ of the fact that he can most likely _stop him_ from laying a _finger_ on his master! Is he _insane?!_ Trying to be a _martyr?!_ What-- I don’t--” He cut himself off with a loud, frustrated noise and tangled his hands in his hair.

Aeleus rested a hand on Even’s shoulder. “Breathe, Even,” he admonished kindly, before looking up at Terra. “He’s right, though-- Braig must know that even if he has the element of surprise for a few moments, given Xehanort might not expect him to do this, it won’t last long. And even then, Xehanort would most likely be able to stop him with ease. Why would he go on a suicide mission like this? There are other options.”

“I know,” Terra said with a sigh. “And he knew he’s probably gonna-- he’s not comin’ back. That’s why he told me what he did.”

Ienzo thought of the memory he’d seen, the broken man calling desperately for people he’d lost, and his brow furrowed. “What did he tell you, Terra?”

“He told me why he made the deal with Xehanort,” Terra explained. “He told me everything, an’ he asked me to tell you. So you would know why he did it.”

The others all exchanged looks, and turned to Terra. “Go on, then,” Dilan urged. “Don’t keep us in suspense.”

Terra nodded, took a breath, and began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was way too much fun, I gotta admit. Sorry for beating the shit out of you, Terra! It's okay, they just...are very zealous. I do admit that it being Dilan and not Xaldin made me lose some of his best lines, but that's okay, because highkey angry Dilan is still hilarious. Chill, buddy. Ienzo is just so Done with all y'all. And I'm so glad I don't have to do my hilariously bad logic yoga to explain half the shit I tried to pull in the original fic with Keyblade shenanigans. And I'm also glad I didn't stuff Terra's backstory into Ienzo's mouth like last time, either. 
> 
> I do pull some headcanon logic to explain Terra's Visions deal, but I think it's a vaguely common one anyway, so eh.
> 
> ANYWAY, NEXT CHAPTER IT'S BRAIG TIME EVERYONE GET READY FOR PAIN AND OCS AND ALSO PAIN. (I am also glad I didn't shove Magically Contrived Excuse For Flashback on Ienzo, too, tbh...poor kid. He is not the Smol Exposition Fairy and I am sorry I did that to u buddy.)
> 
> Word Count Comparison: Original 1701 / Rewrite 2381


	11. Flashback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Braig's story, of loss and terrible mistakes and one man's eleventh-hour decision to try to make it right. 
> 
> This is not the story Terra tells, but Braig's story so we, the audience, can know it in full.

_ The story starts on a world, a long time ago and a long way away. The world was called Airelann, and it was a quiet place. Full of magic and spirits and fae, heroes and legends, rolling emerald hills and lush forests, bustling towns and small rural villages. Magic was easy to find under rocks and in faerie rings, creatures lived in rivers and in caves and on the crossroads at night, and the people of the world were bright and caring and full of life. _

_ In a little village by a forest is where the story takes place -- a village of perhaps two hundred strong, if that, with a pasture for sheep and cattle, a few henhouses and a stable, a single church, a fountain in the square, and a single inn and tavern. This is the village where Braig Tallow was born. _

_ His father a hunter and his mother a washerwoman, Braig lived a quiet and normal life -- family was everything in the small village, a lesson passed down from parent to child for generations; blood and marriage-bond above all else. Everyone looked out for each other, but family came first. That’s what Braig was taught, just like everyone else. It was a simple fact of their lives, just like how to milk a cow, or how to avoid being tricked by a faerie. _

_ Braig grew up with the rest of the children in the village, but the two most important to him were his neighbors, the twin daughters of the innkeep -- Siobhan and Aisling Durnin. The two were like night and day to each other; Aisling gentle and sweet, kind and quiet, with a love for flowers, animals, and stories of romance,while Siobhan was rough-and-tumble, the knight to her sister’s princess, a firecracker who loved to cook and climb trees. _

_ The three children were inseparable, playing from dawn to dusk every chance they could escape from chores and duties. The village all knew them well, knew their mischief, and it was a common talk at family firesides which of the two would Braig marry when they were of age -- it was no if, to the village, but when. It was simply how things went. _

_ In the end it was Aisling who he chose, the gentle girl marrying the bright-eyed hunter one soft spring morning, two happy youths only just approaching their second decade. Siobhan was happy, too -- the trio took over the inn soon after, and in time no one could tell which was truly the wife to Braig’s husband, and to most it simply didn’t matter. They were family, the three of them, and far be it from anyone to claim it was more or less of one. _

_ It wasn’t long after that a fourth joined the family, a squalling boy with dark hair and Braig’s brown eyes, a boy they named Jasper. He inherited much from his father -- the same eyes and hair, the same hawkish nose and crooked smile, the same sense of mischief and adventure, and the same nose for getting into and out of trouble with a laugh and a grin and a sharp tongue. _

_ The family was happy, and content with their lives. Aisling ran the inn with a gentle hand, cleaning and welcoming weary travelers, while Siobhan ran the kitchen and the bar, cooking hearty meals and making sure the whiskey and beer flowed free -- though she made damn sure no one caused too much trouble on her watch. Braig kept a sharp eye on his girls and his son, travelling into the woods to hunt with the other men, coming home with sundries to sell at the town nearby and with stories to tell around the tables at the inn. _

_ Jasper devoured the stories like you would a fresh sweet roll, sitting on the floor surrounded by the music and tales of his father and the other villagers. He was always sent to bed when the crowd got rowdy and the drinking songs got bawdy, but he still hovered at the top step to listen, entranced. He knew from a young age what he wanted to do and what he wanted to be -- just like his father. _

_ He would follow his father to the forest sometimes, Braig letting Jasper ride on their dog -- a huge black hound named Ulster, loyal and perhaps with magic in him -- and placing him safe in the crook of a tree while he hunted. Jasper would listen intently as Braig taught him what to look for, the signs of both fauna and fae, what to avoid and what to seek out, the tricks to keep yourself safe and when to run and when to stay very, very still. _

_ Life was sweet as honey and calm as a warm summer afternoon for ten long years after Jasper’s birth, but as in all things, happiness never lasts forever, and the more content you are...the quicker Darkness is to take everything. _

_ It was soon after Jasper’s tenth birthday, husband wife and son riding home from the city, Jasper wearing his gift proudly -- a red bandanna snug around his neck to match his father’s. But they were never to make it home that night, for that was when the tides of Darkness that were slowly encroaching all the known worlds came to Airelann. _

_ They struck without warning, hordes of living shadows with bright gold eyes, soundless and deadly. A tidal wave, a roiling tide bigger than the tallest oak and deadlier than any black hound or vengeful fae, and caught out in the middle of the road, the Tallows had nowhere to hide from it, no place to be that would protect them from the shadows. _

_ Braig fought valiantly, tooth and nail and useless gun against the shadows that surrounded them, only to watch with fast-breaking heart as Aisling was killed before his eyes as she tried to protect their son -- her still form slumping, her blood staining the ground as the shadows rolled over her and stole the red from her hair.  _

_ Only to watch as the shadows and Darkness took his son and took him, hands unable to grasp hold of one another as the blackness consumed them and threw them far across the universe, far from each other, far from the home that fell that night. _

_ Braig woke on a world he did not know, the night sky full of stars blinking out, rain soaking the ground and soaking him to the bone, but he didn’t care. Couldn’t care -- all he could see was his wife pale and still on the ground, all he could see was his son’s terrified face, and now they were gone. They were gone, and he was alone. No amount of screaming and begging, no amount of raw, bleeding hands clawing at the dirt and no amount of howling to the sky would bring them back to him. _

_ So knowing he could not bring them back, he set off to search. Wherever the road took him, wherever he had to go -- he would walk into the Underworld itself, tear down the gates of Faerieland if he had to if it meant finding his son, his only family left. He was alive, he had to be, and no matter what it took, what Braig had to give up, he would find his boy and they would find their way home. _

_ He wandered the worlds, as this was the time in which all worlds were connected, all roads passing through the multitude. He searched and searched, seeing many places and many people, but none of them his son. _

_ He would come across children sometimes -- sometimes they were alone, and others were in small groups, young children with hope in their bright young eyes and blades in the shape of keys clutched in their hands. He would ask for his son, and they would never know him, but they told him of their destiny. _

_ They told him of Keyblades, of the hundreds of youths from fallen worlds, youths searching for adventure, clutching their weapons in their hands as they fought bravely to stem the tide of darkness and bring light back to the worlds. They told him of their fight and they told him with eyes shining with hope and courage and hearts full of light, and every time he left them he felt that much lighter himself. It was hard to despair when you were faced with that much light and hope and courage, even if the wielders were children, even if each little face he met could have been his son’s, but wasn’t. _

_ Seven long years Braig spent wandering, seven years of naught but dead ends and worlds empty of the one person he sought. Seven years of watching children fight a war that should belong to adults, watching children prove braver and wiser and more hopeful than anything else, even as eyes grew too old for young faces and their numbers began to drop and dwindle. _

_ Part of him wanted to help -- part of him saw his son’s face in every boy and girl with those keys, part of him couldn’t bear the thought of more fathers and more mothers waking up in their homes never to see their children again, never knowing why. But part of him knew he was helpless, useless -- he had no key of his own, he had no means to fight the Darkness, and he had no way to help. So he would keep searching for his little boy, and hope for the children’s sakes that the war ended soon. _

_ The war did end, though, and the war ended brutally. It ended with children killing each other in a field of weapons turned to gravestones, the only marker that the youths had ever existed their left-behind keys, a field of shattered hopes and dying lights lying silent in the rain. _

_ The war ended and it took the worlds all with it, dragging the universe into deepest darkness. And Braig almost fell along with all the countless others -- but something in him, some buried magic burst forth and protected him, warped time and space and dragged him to safety across centuries. _

_ Once again he woke in an unfamiliar world, this time a bright and warm place, a radiant garden full of friendly faces and kind strangers. He was taken in, welcomed by the ruler and by the citizens, and upon realizing that the paths he’d once walked between worlds were broken and vanished, he resigned himself to settle there, to make a new home in this place he hadn’t chosen. _

_ In the decade that followed, though, it almost began to feel almost familiar despite everything. The people there -- friends he’d made, the stalwart axeman and the temperamental lancer, the neurotic scientist and his quiet adopted son, the wise and friendly king, and so many others -- were almost a family, and the garden was almost like a home. Even if he hadn’t chosen it, it had chosen him, and he was almost content. _

_ But almost is not enough, and that broken and missing part of him still festered in quiet, and one day, he was met with an old man carrying one of those keys -- they keys that, to Braig, meant light and hope and a chance to fix everything, and in the hand of an adult who could carry that weight  -- and he knew before the old man spoke that he would agree to whatever was offered, if only he could have a key of his own. For having a key of his own, Braig thought, would be enough. Having a key of his own would be the way he could make it all right again, the way he could find his son and bring him home. _

_ The man with the key turned out to be a devil in disguise, however, and by the time Braig realized it, he had already sold his found family and his found home down the river for a chance to take back the blood family he’d lost -- a chance that was all sweet-sounding lies and clever manipulations -- and now he had nothing. By the time Braig realized what he’d done, the shard of Xehanort’s heart had buried itself deep within him like a parasite, eating at him from the inside out and changing him irreparably.  _

_ He looked in the mirror now and saw a face he hardly recognized, the scars of his follies traced deep into his cheek and burned into his useless eye, the marks of his deal seared gold in his vision and tracing grey into his hair. He looked into the mirror and wondered if his son would know him now, if he saw him again. If his son would love him still, if he knew what he’d done. _

_ But that was meaningless. _

_ It was all meaningless. The only thing left in his life that had meaning was Xehanort’s plan. That was what he lived for, what he was forced to do. And he’d do it, because no matter what he’d thrown away, no matter how alone he was, no matter how thick his web of secrets...if in the end, when the dust settled, he had his key and he had his son, then the blood and the betrayal and this deal that left him ruined and no longer in control of himself...it was worth it. _

_ It had to be worth it, he told himself over and over again. It had to be worth it. _

_ Even if he had to face down so many more children with keys, children that shouldn’t be fighting, children with homes and families and parents waiting for them  -- he’d do it. Even if he had to betray his found family over and over, knowing they’d all either die or become slaves to Xehanort’s heart because of what he’d done -- he’d do it. _

_ He’d do anything to get that key and to get what he wanted, because it was the only thing he had left. _

_ But dying had been unexpected, and coming back had been even more so. _

_ And despite himself, despite everything he’d been through, despite the twenty-seven years he’d spent jaded and bitter and prepared to suffer alone and fight alone for the one last thing that made his foolish life worth living -- prepared to do everything in his power to get what he wanted until the last bullet was loaded, the one that never belonged to him… _

_ Watching Terra stand up again, broken and bruised and battered, a boy who’d lost ten years and been forced to become so much older, who had been ruined and possessed and who’d been hurt so deeply -- watching that boy get up a man, stand tall and determined and willing to fight even with terrible odds, even knowing so little, even with all the weight on his shoulders...watching that same boy turn to him with relief and friendship in his eyes to ask him for advice, to thank him, to trust him even though he knew what Braig had done and was still doing… _

_ And watching Ienzo, the boy he’d known since he was an infant, and realizing that he’d made this boy old before his time, an adult in a child’s body -- taken Ienzo’s innocence and left behind a broken and cynical man where a boy should have been. Watching Ienzo take his son’s appearance and make him face what he’d become and what he’d done, and watching Ienzo lie still and silent on the ground and a blade pressed against his unmoving form… _   
  


_ Something changed. He wasn’t sure what, and he wasn’t sure if it would make a difference, but he had to try. Even if he died doing it -- he couldn’t sit back anymore and watch children suffer and children die just because he wanted his son back. He had to make up for his mistakes; he had to make it up to the family he’d found, the family he’d thrown away. He couldn’t do much except this, but he hoped it was enough.  _

_ At the very least, he’d make damn sure Xehanort had one less vessel. Even if the last bullet wasn’t his to fire, he’d make sure it did something good. _

* * *

Guns in his hands, he stared down the old man -- sweat dripped down his face and heart hammered in his chest, but he stood strong and didn’t falter.

“You and me, Xehanort,” he said. “This is as far as I go.”

And hell, he thought, raising the guns as Xehanort raised his blade. At least Terra knew the truth, now, and at least soon the others would too.

He didn’t expect forgiveness, but that they  _ knew  _ \-- that was enough.

_ “Beidh mé leat go luath, Aisling.” _

It would have to be enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all know I made myself cry writing this, and I hope you all enjoy suffering with me. This chapter is the first one I rewrote from the ground up entirely, so there will be no comparison count -- Braig's story has been roughly the same for six years, but the details were changed enough that it needed a complete reset in the fic. I'm aware how bullshit all of this is and I don't care, tbh. It's still better than it was lmao.
> 
> Like I said, this isn't the version Terra tells the others -- you'll see that next chapter.
> 
> Before you ask: Jasper Tallow is my KHUx Keybearer, and he has been a child of the Keyblade war for over six years, long before KHx came out in Japan, and the release of that game made me an incredibly happy person, as now I could -- now I CAN -- see his story told as part of canon. He may or may not appear in future chapters.  
> (He's Vulpes btw, Fox Pride!)
> 
> Translation notes: _'Beidh mé leat go luath, Aisling.'_ = "I'll be with you soon, Aisling."


	12. Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Braig's story explained, it's decided they have to save him -- and into battle they go, not to win but to save a friend. But what awaits them back in the Dark City when they return?

“Braig, he…” Terra began. “He told me he was from a world called Airelann. He-- he had a wife and a kid, but he lost them to the Darkness -- well, his wife died, but his son went missin’. He went lookin’ for his son after that, but he...he never found the kid.” He sighed. “That was a long time ago, he said. Back durin’ the Keyblade War. He told me when the worlds all started t’disappear at the end of the war, that’s when his, uh, weird space powers showed up, and that tossed him into Radiant Garden, when he met you guys.”

He shifted, not sure he wanted to see the looks on the others’ faces. “He said that-- that when Xehanort came t’him, he offered Braig the Keyblade an’ told him he could use it to find his son and bring his homeworld back, an’ Braig believed him. An’ that’s why he--” He gestured. “He knows he messed up real bad, but ‘til now he didn’t think there was anything he could do but keep going’ and hope it was gonna be worth it in the end, ‘cause he was ready t’do anything for his kid.”

“But then the past couple days, an’ me, and Ienzo, an’ I guess he decided, you know...screw it.” Terra finished, crossing his arms and finally taking a deep breath, looking back up at the others.

The rest of the group was sitting and leaning against the counters, expressions identical ones of shock. “That’s…” Dilan began. “This whole time, _that_ was it…?”

“I do remember when he first arrived,” Even mused slowly. “He was...rather disoriented for a few days, I believe, and he certainly didn’t seem familiar with many of the instruments in the lab and castle proper. He was full of questions for weeks. Hm.” He chuckled faintly. “Now we know why.”

Aeleus frowned deeply. “A wife and son,” he repeated. “That’s...to lose both to the Darkness...I can understand why he would be so desperate to get them back, especially once he realized how far removed from his time he was in the Garden. And we all know how skilled a manipulator Xehanort is.”

“Mm,” Ienzo murmured quietly, distracted. He remembered the scene he’s witnessed in Braig’s memory, the agony he’d seen. And the face he’d borrowed, the young boy with Braig’s hair and eyes... _Jasper_. Braig’s son. That...explained a lot. He shook his head, trying not to think about the genuine pain on Braig’s face when he apologized to the illusion -- but if that had been a catalyst for Braig’s change of heart, then...perhaps the guilt was worth it. “Do you think he’s alright?” He asked after a moment.

Aeleus winced. “I don’t know,” he said. “Braig’s a damn good shot, and he’s got a lot of experience, but this is Xehanort. He’s a Keybearer, and none of us know just how skilled he really is. Braig might, but...knowing isn’t the same as being able to use that knowledge.”

The group fell silent again, exchanging looks of resignation. Terra blinked, and then frowned, standing up with a wince. “He’s not dead yet,” he said firmly. “Don’t start-- don’t _mourn_ him. He’s not dead. “At least, I won’t let him die. I’m goin’ to go find him. I have a feelin’ I know where they are, and I’m going to go get Braig. He’s not gonna die.”

“Terra!” Even frowned. “You may have been healed, but you’re still injured -- admittedly it was our fault, but the point remains that I doubt you’re in good enough shape to handle a fight against Xehanort.”

Terra shook his head. “I don’t _care_ ,” he told them. “I have to. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt or worse because of Xehanort, because of _me_. If I don’t do this, if I don’t save him, then who will?”

 _“We_ will,” Dilan said firmly. “Tell us where you think he is, and we’ll go get the idiot.” He exchanged a look with Aeleus, who nodded, and both men straightened.

Terra blinked. “Dilan, Aeleus…”

“The three of us were Castle Guards,” Aeleus said. “He’s our friend and our responsibility. You’re in no shape to do this right now, and in any case-- we can’t let you handle everything alone, Terra. You aren’t alone.”

Terra opened his mouth as if to respond, and then closed it, closing his eyes and sighing. “Alright,” He said finally. “But if you aren’t back in twenty minutes, I’m coming after you. Xehanort’s dangerous, and I don’t-- just...get Braig and come back. Okay?”

“Alright,” Dilan agreed. “Now where are we going?”

Terra hesitated, before running a hand through his hair. “I dunno the proper name for it, but-- we called it the Keyblade Graveyard, or the Badlands. Xehanort liked it there; s’where our final battle was ten years ago. I have a feeling that’s where he went, and that’s where Braig followed him to.”

He lifted a hand and opened a corridor. “Through there,” he said. “Just come back safe.”

The two men nodded. Before they were able to go through the corridor, however, Ienzo stopped them, reaching out to grab Aeleus’s sleeve. “I’m going with you,” he said, and Even made a noise of protest.

“Why?” Aeleus asked simply; not planning to deny him, but simply curious.

Ienzo shook his head. “When I prevented Braig from harming me, I saw…” He trailed off. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t want him to die, that’s all. And I may not be a warrior like the two of you, but I can certainly distract him.” He really didn’t know why he wanted to do this -- but the only thing he could think of was Braig’s sorrowful face, that painful memory, and his murmured words in a language Ienzo didn’t know, speaking to the illusion of his son. The loss of one’s family…

Aeleus had always been good at reading between the things Ienzo said and didn’t say, so he simply nodded. “Alright,” he said. “Stay behind us and out of range. You’re our support.”

“I know,” Ienzo said, and glanced at Even, who still looked strained. “I’ll be alright,” he said. “Aeleus and Dilan will make sure of it.”

Even let out a quiet noise, but nodded. “I know,” he said reluctantly. “Be careful.”

Ienzo nodded wordlessly, and the three of them disappeared through the portal, leaving Even and Terra alone in the makeshift lab.

* * *

The Keyblade Graveyard was true to its name -- a desolate, blasted wasteland, full of sand and windstorms. Keyblades were scattered across the expanse, bladefirst in the cracked earth; gravestones, the only proof that their wielders had one lived, and a reminder of the price of war.

It wasn’t hard to find the battle -- Ienzo’s sharp nose could smell the thick scent of Darkness easily, almost overpowering Braig’s aura of gunpowder and a grassy smell he’d never been able to name.

The trail led to an open canyon, pillars of stone jutting out of the earth here and there like towers, the occasional windstorm spinning across the ground spitting sand into the sky.

A streak of black caught their attention, and Braig was thrown into a stone pillar nearby, falling to the ground in a crumpled heap. Xehanort stepped out of the shadows in front of him, Keyblade drawn and free hand crackling with magic. “A shame,” he said softly. “You have been quite useful over the years. But it is no matter; my plans will continue with or without your presence.”

His Keyblade raised, he prepared to strike, but Aeleus moved first -- he summoned Skysplitter to his hand and brought it down against the earth, a wall of stone bursting forth from the ground as it tore the earth apart in a straight line ahead of him. Xehanort leapt back, the wall separating him from Braig’s still form.

“Aeleus, Dilan,” he noted as the two warriors moved into position, Dilan hovering a foot in the air with his own spears summoned around him. “The noble Castle Guards. You are here for your associate, I take it? Very well.” The old man shifted his stance slightly -- it was clear there was to be a fight.

The three men took in Xehanort’s true visage for the first time -- an old man, bald and bent, but with an aura of power about him and sharp intelligence in his eyes that marked him as far more dangerous than his initial appearance would imply.

“Of course we are,” Dilan snarled. “He’s a fool, but he’s _our_ fool before he’s yours. If it’s a fight you want, we’re glad to oblige.”

Ienzo hurried to Braig’s side as the battle began, throwing up a Protega around them and summoning his lexicon, prepared to aid the other two any way he could.

The world around them seemed perfectly suited for the two former Nobodies -- the earth shook with each blow of Aeleus’s weapon, the ground distorting as blades of earth burst forth from it, chasing Xehanort’s path, and the pillars of stone around them toppling to the ground. Dilan was in his element as well, the windstorms in the area bending to his magic, diverting from their random paths and speeding like lightning towards the Keyblade Master, picking up the debris Aeleus created along the way and throwing them like missiles at their opponent. The earth and sky tore apart in the wake of the pair of warriors, their magic burning through the air and assaulting Ienzo’s senses with the almost overpowering scent of ozone, cinnamon, and fallen leaves.

Xehanort was no easy prey, however, and his own magic split the air, Darkness shattering the stone projectiles when his Keyblade did not, and black ice racing across the ground and freezing the windstorms before exploding, sending countless daggers of ice in all directions. A gesture of his hand, and the wind picked up, dust and the abandoned Keyblades forming a deadly barrage of their own, gusting past the warriors as they blocked the countless blades within the whirlwind.

In the chaos, it was all Ienzo could do to maintain the Protega bubble, the barrier cracking with the raging battle around them. “Damn it,” he hissed, shaking his head. He had to do _something_ beyond this, even if it was a small thing. He couldn’t let them fight alone. He shifted his stance, lexicon clutched in his hands, and -- wait. An idea came to him, a dangerous one, but it was something. It might just work.

He took a breath, flipping open his lexicon and pulling Braig into the pocket dimension within -- this way he would be safe and out of the fight, at least, and Ienzo wouldn’t have to waste mana on the Protega. Now, he decided, dispelling the barrier. It was time to join the fray.

He opened a corridor and found himself on top of one of the thicker, sturdier pillars -- one he was certain wouldn’t be knocked over -- and took a breath, making sure his feet were steady. He had relied on his illusions and his lexicon for years now, but he was a mage at heart, and he hoped his repertoire was enough; no, he _knew_ it was. It just needed to connect.

Magic flickered at his fingertips, clean and sharp, and he waited for an opening -- there. As the keyblade typhoon whipped by, Ienzo cast Magnega with a hiss of air, taking a step back as the storm of blades changed direction, pulled directly towards him. He heard Aeleus yell something, but he ignored it, another step back as he prepared his second spell, letting it loose in a blast of mana as the Warp spell burned through the air, the entire wave of Keyblades flickering out one by one, the air around them dying down as they all vanished.

Winded, he staggered back, dropping to one knee. He glanced up, the air clear of Xehanort’s barrage now, and he could see that the two warriors pressed the advantage they had now that the distraction was cleared. Ienzo shook his head, searching the arena for Xehanort himself. There -- he was there, knocking Dilan’s lances out of the air, though they would simply spiral back to their wielder's vicinity, prepared to strike again.

Ienzo knew he didn’t have any mana to waste; the spell he’d used were powerful, but he couldn’t let up now, if they were to press the advantage long enough to end this fight even briefly. He had no Ethers on him, so he ignored the beginnings of the magic headache pounding in his skull and kept casting. He threw a Blackout around himself, hoping the darkness shrouding his position would buy him time, and focused on Aeleus and Dilan, mentally going through every support spell he could think of as he cast it upon the two as if reading by rote a page he’d studied a thousand times.

 _Hastega, Protega, Shellga, Reflega, Regen, NulFrost, NulShock, NulBlaze--_ each spell cast for both Aeleus and Dilan, magic flaring in between each breath, gritting his teeth as his fingers burned and his head pounded, but he didn’t stop, _couldn’t_ stop. And against Xehanort...Slow, Blind, Silence, Poison, until he was gasping for air as his chest heaved and the blackout flickered and faded out.

“A _brave_ young man, aren’t you?” A voice echoed behind him, amused, and Ienzo spun and stumbled, eyes wide as Xehanort strode closer. “A powerful mage, as well -- I must admit I am impressed, Ienzo. Your skills belie your age. But you are still but an arrogant youth, nothing more.”

Ienzo took another step back, and another until his foot slipped on the edge of the pillar, throwing his hands up to cast a barrier, only for the spell to flicker and sputter out. “D-Damn,” Ienzo hissed. “Come _on--”_ He tried another spell, flinging a Flare spell that died in midair, easily batted aside by Xehanort’s Keyblade.

“Futile,” Xehanort scoffed, and his hand shot out, grabbing Ienzo by the throat and lifting him into the air, his strength impressive for an old man. Ienzo’s eyes widened and he struggled, clawing at the arm that held him in an iron grip, fear sending his heart beating wildly. His feet were off the ground, kicking uselessly at thin air even as his vision greyed. His mind flashed back to what felt like only days ago, the life choked out of him by a replica of a boy with teal eyes that reeked of Darkness.

“-- _No_ ,” he gasped out, but Xehanort ignored him, dangling him over the edge with a spell forming in his other as if using him as a lure to draw out Aeleus and Dilan. _“No--”_

His vision blurred and he went limp, but before he lost consciousness, a blast of cold air rushed past him and scraped his cheeks, knocking him from Xehanort’s grasp. He landed in a pair of arms, grabbing his rescuer for support and gasping painfully for air until his head stopped spinning.

He managed to focus again, glancing up to see Terra holding him in his arms, and looked around to see Even, face twisted in rage, standing between them and a momentarily frozen Xehanort, the whole pillar in front of him coated in a thick layer of ice, the air misting with frost -- even where Ienzo and Terra were he could feel the chill, his breath escaping him in a barely visible fog.

“Terra,” Ienzo whispered, his voice hoarse.

The Keybearer barely spared him a glance, but his voice was reassuring. “You missed your deadline,” he said quietly. “You okay?”

“I’ll live,” Ienzo reassured him, glancing back to see Aeleus and Dilan joining them on the pillar. “Are you two--?”

Dilan snorted. “Fine,” he said. “Thanks to you. Good job, Ienzo.”

Aeleus nodded, and they both shifted forward, weapons raised, to join Even. “We need to go, before he breaks free,” Terra interrupted. “We don’t have time to waste; if we have Braig, we need to leave, _now_.”

“We do,” Ienzo said, and Terra nodded once. He glanced at Aeleus, who nodded, dismissing his weapon and taking Ienzo from him.

“Go,” Terra said simply, summoning Aqua’s Keyblade. “I’ll be right behind you.”

The four men exchanged looks. “You had better,” Even told him sharply, as they disappeared through a corridor summoned by Dilan and leaving Terra to stare down Xehanort, who dispelled the ice storm around him with a gesture.

“You have powerful friends, Terra,” Xehanort said. “You do them no justice by chasing them off to face me alone. If you think this will have a different outcome, then you have learned nothing.”

Terra grinned savagely. “I don’t plan on winning _here_ ,” he said. “I just plan on making sure you don’t come after us. That said--”

He took a step back, raising his Keyblade in the air and causing the platform they were on to shatter, spikes and chunks of earth raising around them and flying into the air. Without waiting for the dust to settle Terra moved, dismissing his weapon as he bounced off a flying rock, white lightning gathering in his fists to throw at Xehanort, who blocked it with his own Keyblade. Terra gritted his teeth, keeping one of the streams of lightning trained on Xehanort while his other hand re-summoned his Keyblade, letting it flicker with black flames as he threw a Dark Firaga across the uneven arena.

Xehanort dodged, leaving the place where he’d stood blackened and scorched, but Terra didn’t let up, unleashing a double-cast of Mega Flare, explosions one after the other, chasing the older Keyblade wielder across the debris. He let his Keyblade pulse, the familiar energy bursting forth over it and creating a massive blade of magic around it. It was almost reassuring, the bright blade something nostalgic, and he allowed the second stream of lightning to flicker out, using both hands to swing his Keyblade in wide arcs as he chased Xehanort across the Graveyard.

He gritted his teeth, magic sparking down the length of his Keyblade as with one final strike the energy blade disappeared. He caught himself on a piece of debris, skidding back to lift a hand and calling a field of blazing red laser blades around him, other hand gripping his Keyblade tight enough to hurt.

_Terra…stay strong!_

His heart skipped a beat; was that-- he almost heard...no, he shook it off, bringing his hand down and firing the lasers, the area exploding in light.

He spun back, throwing his hands up to protect himself from the ensuing rain of debris, only to find a faintly glowing, purple barrier around him, its warmth familiar and gentle. “Aqua…?” His eyes flickered to her Keyblade, shaking himself off again before focusing on Xehanort. He was nowhere to be seen, and even though Terra knew he still had to be there, this was his chance.

He took a gasp of air, dismissing his Keyblade and leaping through a corridor before the Master could recoup, stumbling into the makeshift lab and a pair of strong arms.

“Terra, are you alright?” Aeleus asked, frowning down at him.

Terra staggered upright, breathing heavily, and glanced around the room. The others seemed alright, Ienzo looking pale and exhausted where he sat on a counter, and the two warriors with several cuts and bruises. “I’m fine,” he managed. “Just out of breath. Where’s-- where’s Braig?”

“Oh,” Ienzo said, blinking slowly -- he seemed out of it, Terra noted, perhaps from being so drained of mana, and summoned his lexicon, brushing a hand over the pages. There was a glow, and Braig’s unconscious body appeared on the ground, a bit of dirt still underneath him.

Even knelt down, turning Braig over. The other man groaned faintly but didn’t stir, head lolling to the side as he murmured something in a language none of them understood. “Well, he’s alive,” Even said dryly. “That’s a start.”

Terra relaxed, leaning heavily against Aeleus, who eased him down onto one of the counters. “Sit,” the older man said. “We’ll dig up some Potions for you and Ienzo while we figure out what to do with Braig.”

“What about--?” Terra tried, but Dilan shook his head.

“We’re fine,” the lancer said, waving a hand dismissively. “We’ve had worse, this is nothing.”

Ienzo rolled his eyes. “All of you, _really_ ,” he grumbled. “Just heal yourselves and stop acting so tough.”

“Says the boy who burned through his entire mana store in ten minutes just to _act tough_ ,” Even scolded. “If I had my way I’d be pouring Ethers down your throat.”

Ienzo groaned. _“Please_ don’t. I already have a headache.”

The group chuckled tiredly, allowing a companionable silence to fall over the group. It was almost nice, Terra reflected, sipping at a Potion Aeleus had produced. Ienzo and Even were bickering fondly, the scientist sitting with Braig’s head in his lap as they discussed Ienzo’s recklessness and what to do about Braig’s possession. Aeleus was watching them with a soft smile, rubbing one of his shoulders, and Dilan stood next to him with arms crossed, eyes fluttering half-closed in exhaustion. Even though Terra only remembered his time as Xemnas, none of his time in the Garden...it felt welcoming. Familiar.

His hand slipped into his coat pocket for the familiar shape of his Wayfinder, letting out another long sigh. He’d find them soon, he told himself. Soon.

The easy silence was shattered suddenly, however, an explosion from the higher levels rocking the kitchen.

The group was on their feet in an instant, looking at each other in surprise and instant wariness. “Go,” Ienzo said. “Even and I will watch Braig, you three go.”

A trio of nods, and they were off, footsteps pounding up the stairs and into the lobby, not knowing what they’d find, but knowing it couldn’t be good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sweet baby Jesus, what even did this chapter turn into? This was actually chapter 14 in the original fic, since I was a dumbshit and dragged Braig's flashback out longer than it needed to be. But anyway, original fic was shit, here's an actual battle with Ienzo actually being useful, and boy was this fun. Terra is also frightening, I gotta say. BBS fighting style is OP as hell.
> 
> Credit for a little bit of how Ienzo's magic works/the hands-hurting bit goes to my friend Rae. TY Rae! 
> 
> Word Count Comparison: Original 1420 / Rewrite 3647


	13. Intruder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An intruder strikes at the heart of the returned Organization's temporary sanctuary. Who are they, and what do they want? And who exactly is it that's come to join our 'heroes'?

The three men entered the lobby into a scene of total chaos.

The remaining members of the Organization were scattered about the ruined lobby, moaning and injured. Scorch marks and small craters marked the ground and stained the walls, and the furniture -- chairs, couches, tables, and the front desk -- were all in pieces across the room.

Demyx lay crumpled against a wall, a split lip and bruised forehead marking his face, his sitar inches from twitching fingers. Luxord was half-visible sprawled across one of the ruined couches, his cards scattered around him. Marluxia was slumped against the stairs, head drooping, scythe buried in the floor a foot away, and Larxene was on the stairs several steps above him, knives dangling from a limp hand. Lea was the sole member standing, bleeding from several cuts with one eye swollen shut, clinging to his Keyblade with both hands and standing over Isa’s still form.

Before them stood an unfamiliar young man, an unfamiliar Keyblade in his hand, but when he turned, Terra’s blood ran cold. He recognized this boy, even if he was wearing a black coat now. This was the boy he’d seen in his vision on the island, the boy that had turned into Riku, the one with dark skin and silver hair--

“Xehanort?” He asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

The young Xehanort -- because that’s who it simply _had_ to be -- smiled faintly. “Terra,” he greeted. “Dilan, Aeleus. I knew you would come. I’ll be with you in a moment. I just have one last thing to take care of.”

He turned back to Lea, who glanced back at the others, his face momentarily blank with confusion, before he glared again at Xehanort. “I’m not going down that easily!” He protested angrily. “This isn’t over!”

“So you think,” the young Xehanort said casually, lifting a hand to snap his fingers. There seemed to be a moment where time stopped still, before it started up again, and the young Xehanort had closed the distance between himself and Lea, grabbing him by the scarf and throwing him into a wall. Lea let out a grunt of pain and dropped, staggering to his feet and calling a chakram to his free hand, setting it afire and flinging it at his opponent.

The young Xehanort batted the weapon aside with his Keyblade, snorting. “You don’t even know how to use the weapon you’ve _got_ ,” he said derisively. “You think you’re a defender of the light? Get _real_. You can’t save anyone with that pathetic show.”

“Shut your face!” Lea snarled, trying to get up and wincing, falling back to his knees. “Just watch me!”

The young Xehanort snorted again, swinging his Keyblade idly as he approached. “I’ll watch you fail,” he scoffed. “You’re a rookie. No chance. Get _that_ memorized.”

Lea let out a hiss of air, trying again to get up to his feet. “Shove your Keyblade up your ass,” he snapped. “The only one who says whether or not I can do something is _me!”_

The young Xehanort sighed, shaking his head and lifting his Keyblade, bringing it down only for it to bounce with a hollow, metallic noise off of Terra’s, who had slid in between the two with his own Keyblade raised.

“What the--” Lea yelped, eyes wide. Terra glanced over his shoulder at him, smiling faintly.

“I’ll explain everything later,” he promised. “I’ll handle this guy, you take care of the others, alright? I’m gonna need your help, Lea.” He’d been surprised to see Lea with a Keyblade, but took it stride; if the redhead had one, it would be a huge help to the cause, whatever that was going to be.

Lea blinked, but his eyes met Terra’s -- green meeting blue -- and then he seemed to understand, nodding. “Right,” he said, sliding out from behind Terra. “Kick his ass.”

Terra nodded once, grinning. “Don’t need to tell me that,” he called, charging the young Xehanort, magic already beginning to crackle in between them as the two began to fight.

Lea ran to Isa, pulling him to a sitting position. “Come on,” he said quietly. “I can’t cast Cure, man, wake up…” He shook Isa gently, the other man groaning faintly and shaking his head as he stirred.

“Lea--?” He managed, then looked startled, sitting up himself. “What’s going on? That boy, he was... _Xehanort_ , but--”

Lea shrugged, nodding at the fight. “No idea, but apparently Xemnas ain’t Xemnas anymore, either,” he explained. “He’s on our side, and...hell, I dunno. Just help me get everyone else out of the way while they fight?”

Isa looked puzzled, just as lost as Lea was, but shrugged back, pulling himself to his feet and moving to help Luxord up, while Lea dove across the room to drag Demyx back to the stairs. Aeleus and Dilan hovered at the entrance to the kitchens, both guarding the entry so that their intruder wouldn’t get to the others and keeping an eye on the fight -- Terra was exhausted and injured, they knew, and so they would step in as soon as he needed them.

Slowly, the others woke, shaking themselves off and turning to watch the fight before them with wide, confused eyes. Larxene rubbed her face, blinking spots out of her eyes, eyebrows rising comically as they took in the lobby.

“What in the…” Marluxia murmured. “Did anyone _know_ the Superior had a Keyblade, or is this a new development?”

Isa shrugged. “It’s new,” he said simply.

“Right,” he said simply, rubbing his forehead. “I’m not even going to _pretend_ I understand what’s happening anymore, really.”

Larxene snorted. “Did any of us ever?” She asked dryly. “I mean, like...seriously. This is total _bullshit_ , if you ask me. No answers, a million questions, and here we are with thumbs up our asses wondering if anyone’s gonna tell us anything, which, so far, is a big honking _‘nope’_.”

“One gets used to the constant sense of missing something,” Luxord noted, settling with a wince against the banister. “It seemed to be par for the course within the Organization, though it seems since our return a number of cards _have_ been returned to our decks, so to speak. Not that it gives us any of our elusive answers, unfortunately.”

The others glanced at him, only for Luxord to simply tap his chest with an index finger, a brow raised in bemusement. There was a moment of silence as the others pressed hands to their own chests, mouths forming shocked expressions as they realized they hadn’t even noticed.

 _“Dude,”_ Demyx said faintly. “How’d we _miss_ that?”

Lea shrugged. “Too busy freaking out over the whole ‘we kinda died’ thing, maybe?” He suggested.

“Sounds about right,” Marluxia said dryly, levering himself up to his feet. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like a little revenge against our Keyblade wielding intruder. Is anyone else with me? You’re free to sit it out, of course. _I_ won’t stop you.”

Larxene snorted and hopped to her feet, flexing her fingers and recalling her knives. “What, and let _you_ have all the fun, sweetheart?” She asked with a giggle. “Hardly~ Let’s teach him a _lesson_.”

Marluxia called his scythe back to his hand and the two struck, Marluxia charging with a wide swing of his weapon, Larxene teleporting behind him and throwing her knives at the ground, setting off a chain of electricity in the hopes of herding the young Xehanort into her companion’s attack.

Lea laughed, shaking his head and summoning his own Keyblade. “Hey, Isa, are we gonna let those jackasses steal our thunder?” He asked, and Isa snorted, summoning his claymore.

“Of course not,” he said, grinning -- an expression both familiar and long-missed -- and cracking his neck. “We haven’t fought together in a long time, Lea. Let’s show those two how it’s done.”

They nodded and charged Xehanort as well, Lea laughing at the gobsmacked look on Marluxia’s face as Lea’s Keyblade -- blazing with a Fire Raid spell he remembered Sora using -- sailed past his head, the enemy Keybearer barely dodging it as Isa charged into close range alongside the scythe-wielder with a roar.

The two left behind on the steps exchanged looks, Demyx gesturing wordlessly at the fight, now five on one. Luxord shrugged back. “Too many cooks spoil the broth, I would say,” the gambler said dryly. “Or in this case, too many combatants bring too much a chance of friendly fire. I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

Demyx laughed. “Good point, but _still_ ,” he said. “Hang on.” He hesitated, watching the fight, before summoning his sitar. He licked his lips, eyes following the combatants, the young Xehanort holding his own against all of the others, weaving in and out of a flurry of Keyblade strikes, scythe swings, blows from Isa’s claymore, and Larxene’s knives flying through the air.

Larxene-- he had an idea. He glanced at the ceiling, hoping he was right, and then grinned. “Axel!” He yelled, and Lea turned to see Demyx pointed up at something; he followed Demyx’s finger and his eyes widened, then so did his grin.

“I like the way you think,” Lea muttered, gathering a ball of fire in his hand and throwing it straight up -- straight at the sprinklers. With a shrill whine, the system went off, water spraying everywhere. Only for a few moments, however, as Demyx lifted a hand, directing the flow of the water into a whirlpool around the young Xehanort.

“Larxene!” He called, and she blinked, pausing, before glancing back at Demyx with a vicious little smile.

“For _me?”_ She asked. “Oh, Demyx, you _shouldn’t_ have~! I might just keep you around yet!” That said, she held out her hands, giggling as she summoned a massive storm of lighting around the swirl of water and let it loose. The others leapt back to avoid the blast, blocking with their weapons, and Demyx winced, laughing.

“Merry Christmas, Larxene!” He joked. “Or _whatever_ holiday it’s close to, I dunno. Everyone okay?”

Lea held up a thumbs-up. “Golden,” he said. “That was _badass_ , we should do combo attacks more often.”

“Next time with a little more advance warning, mm?” Marluxia muttered, brushing hair out of his face. “I don’t fancy being collateral damage, if any of you don’t mind.”

Larxene giggled. “Oops, did I frizz your hair, dear~?” She teased. “You look fine anyway, it’s--”

She was cut off suddenly as a black Keyblade emerged from the smoke and dust of their attack, sending her flying across the room. “Larxene!” Isa called.

The young Xehanort stepped out of the smoke, wet and bruised and visibly angry. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he said quietly. “A lucky shot, but you’ll get _no more_.” He lifted his Keyblade, already beginning to glow blue, and seemed to vanish -- but then reappeared, teleporting fast enough around the room that it looked like there were dozens of him, Keyblade blindingly bright as it seemed to form a whip of energy, tearing the room apart and sending all the combatants flying, the former Organization hitting the walls and slumping to the floor; even those who hadn’t been close by.

The dust settling, the young Xehanort brushed himself off with one hand, approaching the half-conscious Terra, who lay groaning on the floor with the others. Terra struggled to sit up, reaching for his Keyblade, but Xehanort kicked it out of the way with nary a word, raising his own weapon high.

He was interrupted, though, by something entirely new. Several strange creatures -- black bird-like things with red markings -- appeared in the air, screeching and swooping at the young Xehanort’s face. He staggered back, swatting at them, and before their eyes, a new young man with a Keyblade appeared out of a corridor, knocking the young Xehanort backwards as the newcomer landed between him and Terra.

“Am I late to the party?” The newcomer asked, oddly familiar voice sarcastic and muffled by a featureless helmet. “‘Cause, y’know, I didn’t get an invitation. _Hate_ to be a partycrasher, but a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do.”

Terra’s face dropped in shock, looking up at the figure. “ _Vanitas…_?” He asked, and the boy glanced over his shoulder.

“You look like crap,” he said bluntly. “The old man really did a number on you, huh? Hang on, we’ll talk in a second. Gotta take out the trash.”

He hefted his Keyblade and struck at the young Xehanort again, their blades meeting in a flurry of blows before Xehanort leapt backwards, shaking his head. “This is ridiculous,” he muttered. “He didn’t tell me _you_ would be here. This isn’t over yet.”

“Running scared already?!” Vanitas called mockingly as the young Xehanort opened a corridor. “Come on, and you were doing so _well!”_

But the young Xehanort vanished, leaving the group in shambles. Vanitas dismissed his Keyblade and huffed, shaking his head. “Why do we _always_ run away like that?” He asked rhetorically. “It’s stupid.” That said, he turned back towards Terra, offering him a hand up.

“You…” Terra began, but took the assistance, levering himself to his feet as the others began to recover, watching the conversation with interested confusion. “I thought you-- but--” He shook his head. “Where’s Ven?”

They couldn’t see his face, but the others could hear the grimace in his voice. “One-track _freakin’_ mind,” Vanitas muttered. “Ven, Ven, Ven, it’s _always_ Ven. Ten years and you’re still...whatever.” He sighed. “I don’t know,” he said bluntly. “That’s both our problems.”

He gestured, crossing his arms. “See, here’s the deal. I woke up, I don’t know where Ven is. This is a problem, because last I checked I was back _inside_ him. I want to _be_ back inside him.” He pointed at Terra, poking his chest with a finger. “You want Ven back in general, all in one piece with that stupid little grin of his. I want back inside Ven. Both our problems can be solved real easy, see? It’s a simple, genius plan called ‘kick Xehanort’s ass’.” He shrugged. “And hey, that kinda, what, saves the worlds too, or something? Bonus.”

“I thought you worked for Xehanort…?” Terra asked, though his voice was hesitant and a bit skeptical.

Vanitas snorted. “Only so far as the old grandpa told me his shitty plan would let me go back to Ven. Figured out _real_ quick that was my only use to him, among various other dick moves.” He shrugged again. “He’s an asshole, I like you maybe ten percent more than I like him, helping you gets us both what we want...I don’t see any downsides here.”

“He’s, um...got a point,” Lea said from his spot against the wall. “I mean hell, _I’m_ not gonna argue if we get an extra Keyblade, is anyone else?”

There was a general murmur of assent among the others, and Vanitas glanced at Terra, a grin audible in his voice. “The peanut gallery has spoken,” he joked. “Well?”

“Guess there’s no point in saying no,” Terra said, though he sounded amused. “Welcome to the, uh...team, I guess. For a certain value of ‘team’.” He offered his hand, and Vanitas shook it, before Terra’s face grew serious. “One thing,” he said, and the tone of his voice set alarm bells ringing in several heads.

“...Yeah?” Vanitas asked, his head tilting slightly.

“Where did you wake up?” Terra asked. “Show me.”

“Terra!” Dilan said, climbing to his feet. “You can’t just--”

Vanitas glanced at the group, then shrugged. “Hey, boss’s orders,” he said lightly, opening a corridor. “We’ll be back.” The two of them immediately vanished through the corridor, leaving the rest of the group, still in shambles, looking at each other.

“Are we _ever_ gonna get an explanation?” Lea asked, bemused, only to be met with helpless shrugs.

Aeleus sighed. “And now we wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, show of hands -- who was expecting YMX? And who was expecting Vanitas? Well, if you read the original, you probably saw him coming, but I bet you didn't see Protagonist Vanitas coming!! This chapter was pretty heavily rewritten this time around, given that in the original the MarLar duo joined Xehanort with very little rationale besides me being all 'idk what to do with them/i need to shorten the cast list' and no one got to do anything really cool. 
> 
> As an aside, I see all you commenting, and I have to say that you literally made me cry -- i'm so happy that you're enjoying the fic, and I'm so happy you read the original and liked it enough to come here and read this. Thank you; this is why I'm writing.
> 
> So...combo attack, lots of neophyte sass, Vanitas being king of the universe, and Terra being a dumbfuck. I promise you, there's going to be explanations for everything (because I actually have them for once, unlike the original).
> 
> Word Count Comparison - Original 1142 / Rewrite 2639


	14. Discoveries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the hunt for Ven, Vanitas takes Terra to where he woke -- and it's a place familiar to him, in more ways than one. But how, why, when did this happen? The answers can't be good.

The two of them exited the corridor into darkness -- or at least, a dark-lit world, low clouds and stormy skies over a dark, patchwork castle that seemed different than Terra remembered, familiar in a different way, but still recognizable somehow.

“Castle Oblivion?” Terra asked in surprise, his brow furrowing. Vanitas glanced up at him, face unreadable beneath his mask.

“You know the place?” He asked, and then shrugged, already heading towards the massive double doors. “Well, whatever. This is where I woke up, come on.”

Terra nodded and followed, a prickling on the back of his neck telling him he should have known this -- Xemnas’s journals, his memories...the Chamber of Waking. Hadn’t that been hidden within Castle Oblivion? Hadn’t that been what Xemnas had been searching for? What... _Terra_ had been searching for.

Looking back, Terra wasn’t sure how much of him had been in Xemnas, but he knew there was something. Memories, feelings, impressions...something of him had been in his Nobody -- _their_ Nobody, his and Xehanort’s -- and it had influenced him, somehow. His ‘friend’ in Aqua’s armor, his search for Ven’s chamber...even without his memories, even trapped within his own mind, he’d sought his friends. It was strangely reassuring.

The thought of how much of Xemnas was still in _him_ \-- that was a thought for another time, though.

He suppressed a shudder when the pair of them entered the front hall, remembering the white walls and endlessly similar hallways, eerie in their quietness -- he’d only been here once, when the Castle had first been ‘discovered’, and to meet Naminé, and he couldn’t remember being unsettled then. Looking back now, it was distressing, the blank and almost muffled castle.

He glanced around as they entered, and it was then he immediately noticed something wrong, something different. Something _familiar_.

“No,” he choked out, stopping dead in the foyer. “No, _no_.”

Vanitas turned, and though Terra could hear the confusion in his voice, he didn’t really register it. “Terra?” He asked. “What the hell? What’s wrong?”

“No,” Terra repeated, the color having drained from his face. “This is-- this place is--” He covered his mouth with a hand, shaking his head wordlessly. “ _No_ …”

He knew this room, know these walls, knew the trio of wooden thrones at the back of the hall and knew the stained-glass windows above it. He knew it all like he knew the back of his hand, had been through this room so many times, on so many brighter days. Remembered it as well as he remembered that day, the day of the Mark of Mastery exam, the test that had taken place in this very room ten years ago.

“This is the Land of Departure,” he said faintly, finally answering Vanitas. “This is-- this was my _home…_ ”

He didn’t know how it had become Castle Oblivion, but...did it matter? This is where Ven had been, and Ven was gone. He was _gone_.

“Ven,” he murmured, feet taking him without meaning to towards the thrones. He knew his hands were shaking, but he didn’t care, he had to check. There had to be something. Anything. Some kind of clue, something to tell him where Ven had gone, what had happened, who had done this.

As he approached, a splotch of green sitting on the middle throne caught his attention, and his heart leapt into his throat. No, no, it couldn’t be, _please_ no, he thought desperately. But there it was, sitting innocently on the seat as if it had simply been forgotten and left behind. A small, green, star-shaped charm, match to the one tucked in Terra’s coat. Ven’s Wayfinder.

“That’s--” Terra jumped, hearing Vanitas behind him, and turned. The masked boy was studying the charm in Terra’s hand, his body language almost puzzled. “That’s Ven’s, right? Aqua gave it to him. You two have ‘em too. Sentimental stuff and all that crap.” His voice shifted, confusion creeping into it. “Ven wouldn’t have just ditched it, would he? He’s a softie. He shit himself over your dumb _toy Keyblade,_ there’s no way he’d just leave _that thing_ behind.”

Terra nodded absently, his thoughts on overdrive. “No,” he said. “He wouldn’t. We-- none of us would.”

He shook his head, fingers tightening on the charm. “I don’t...I don’t understand,” he said to himself. “If Ven was here the whole time, and...and this was the Land of Departure...who put him here? How did he get here?”

“Aqua,” Vanitas pointed out. “Uh, _duh?_ She was a Master, right? Your master guy probably told her how to do this or something, all secret Master info or something like that, and when Ven and I merged and he coma’d the hell out, Aqua must’ve, like...shoved him in here or something, locked the door behind her.”

Terra blinked, shaking his head. “Yeah,” he admitted sheepishly. “That...that makes sense. I know Master Eraqus took her aside after she passed, so...he might’ve told her how to do this. Seal our home up.” The mixed feelings that brought up were unexpected but unsurprising, he reflected, rubbing at his face. Jealous, of course, that he hadn’t known any of this, jealous for the thousandth time in the thousandth way that Aqua had succeeded where he’d failed, but...grateful, maybe, that he hadn’t. Because he _hadn’t_ known, Ven had been safe.

But now, though… “If Aqua did this to keep Ven safe,” Terra began slowly. “Where is he now? Why’s it unlocked?”

“Who knows?” Vanitas said with a shrug. “Obviously, Aqua had to do it. I mean, the point of locking it was so that no one can get in, right? Who _else_ is gonna be able to open it?”

Terra shook his head. “Yeah, that’s true. None of us could ever figure Castle Oblivion out -- the best we could do was just kinda...run with how the place worked; we were just as bound by it as anyone else. Whole place made no sense. Guess it figures Aqua would be the only one who could get through it. But,” he began slowly. “If Aqua came an’ got Ven...why’s his Wayfinder here? Why didn’t they…”

Both of them looked at each other, just as lost as the other, only to jump, startled, when a corridor opened. Two Keyblades shimmered into being, but the wielders relaxed when they saw who had arrived.

“Ienzo,” Terra said, relieved. “What’re you doing here?”

The young man glanced around, expression puzzled. “I came to get you,” he explained distractedly, looking around. “But I thought this was--” He began. “It smells like Castle Oblivion. But it isn’t...? It is and it’s not.” He turned towards Terra. “What is this place?”

“The Land of Departure,” Terra answered sadly. “It was my home. Xehanort destroyed it-- I let him, I mean -- and...after everything was over, seems like Aqua hid Ven’s sleeping body here. That was the Chamber of Waking,” he clarified, making Ienzo’s eyes widen in realization. “But whatever she did to make it into Castle Oblivion is gone, and so is Ven, but we...don’t know where, or why, or how.”

Vanitas snorted. “No, we know _how_ , remember? Aqua?” He pointed out. “Are you even _listening_ to me? We don’t know why or where they went or why Ven dropped his Wayfinder, but we know _how_. Jeez. I thought you’d be a little _less_ dumb as a brick after ten years.”

“Emotions do have a tendency to cloud one’s judgment,” Ienzo said dryly. “But rest assured, I’m listening. Ah-- though I don’t actually know who you are.”

Vanitas seemed to freeze a moment, and then shrugged. “Vanitas,” he said. “The short version is I’m Ven’s darkness, basically, so the fact that I’m here’s _probably_ not a good thing. ‘Cause, y’know, last I checked he’d already stuffed me back into his heart.”

“Ah,” Ienzo said, nodding. His lack of reaction seemed to surprise Vanitas, who tensed for a second, only to relax hesitantly. “It’s a pleasure. I’m Ienzo -- formerly Zexion, Number Six of the Organization. I met Ven, once, ten years ago.”

He offered Vanitas his hand, and the boy stared at it for a moment -- or seemed to, it was hard to tell with the featureless mask -- before slowly taking it. Ienzo noted that his handshake seemed brief and confused, and wondered if that had been the first time anyone had done something like that. How odd.

“Ienzo,” Vanitas repeated. “Got it. Any case, so we know Aqua popped this place open somehow, and now they’re both missing. Where to next?”

Terra glanced at Ienzo, who frowned. “Well...where was Aqua before she came here?” Ienzo mused aloud. “Perhaps by retracing her steps, we can figure out where she was and what --or who -- brought her here.”

“The Realm of Darkness,” Terra answered, and then paused. “I think. I...yeah. I think that’s what happened. There’s...it’s vague, but...it feels right. Like I remember...somethin’.”

Ienzo nodded. “It’s a start,” he admitted. “A tenuous one, but better than nothing.”

“Problem,” Vanitas cut in. “The Realm of Darkness is freakin’ _enormous_. We don’t have time to run around like idiots through the whole thing trying to find one spot that _might’ve_ been where she was, _maybe_. So what the the hell do we do?”

That was a good question. The three of them fell silent, looking at each other as if waiting for one to come up with an idea. Ienzo took a step backwards, tilting his head back to study the arching hallway, lifting a hand slightly. If he concentrated...he’d done this before, so maybe...ah. “There,” he said after a moment. “Did you know that Dark Corridors leave a trace behind, when they’re used? It doesn’t last forever, of course, but for a short while, the darkness used to open them lingers.”

 _“And?”_ Vanitas asked impatiently. “What does _that_ have to do with anything?”

Ienzo tried not to roll his eyes. “I’m getting to that,” he scolded gently. “There’s traces of one here. Recent, but before yours or mine. It must be how Aqua got here. If I use that lingering Darkness to open a corridor, it should take us directly to where it was opened from.”

“That’s great,” Terra said with a faint grin. “That works perfectly. Great job, Ienzo.”

Ienzo smiled faintly himself, opening the corridor in question. “Don’t thank me yet,” he said. “Wait until we actually find what we’re looking for.”

That said, he entered the corridor, leaving Terra and Vanitas to exchange looks. “Well, let’s go,” Vanitas said after a second. “Not like they’re gonna find _themselves_ , if they’re anywhere as hopeless as they were back then.”

The boy started to follow Ienzo, but Terra stopped him. “Wait,” he said impulsively, putting his hand on Vanitas’s shoulder. The masked boy froze, stiffening and sliding out of his grasp almost immediately, but turned to look at Terra.

“What?” He asked, and then made a disgusted noise at Terra’s expression. “Ohhh, no, don’t get _sentimental_ with me. No, don’t do that. I’m not Ven, don’t even--”

“I know you aren’t Ven,” Terra interrupted. “Ven is Ven, and you’re you. It...took me a while, I guess, or maybe I just didn’t really think about it until now, knowing what I do after all this time, but...what you are, it’s not your fault. You didn’t choose this any more than Ven did, than _I_ chose to get possessed, than any of the Organization chose to lose their hearts. And...you deserve to, I dunno. _Be_ someone.” He hesitated. “That’s something...a lot of people I know don’t get. That they deserve to be someone.” Roxas, Naminé...Vanitas. The little fragments of other people. They deserved more than that, the same chance all the other Nobodies did. Being a Nobody, remembering those years as Xemnas...it changed how he saw a lot.

He hesitated again, running a thumb over the object still in his hand, before holding it out, the green Wayfinder sitting in his palm. “It’s-- you hang onto it,” he said. “It’s Ven’s, but...you keep it until you can give it back to him yourself. Okay? You have as much right to it as he does.”

“I--” Vanitas began, and then fell silent, wordlessly taking the Wayfinder out of Terra’s hand. He turned it over in his own a moment, gloved fingers tracing the edges and the silver heart in the center almost cautiously before tucking it away somewhere on him. “Thanks, I guess.”

Terra smiled, patting Vanitas on the top of his mask -- the best he could do in lieu of ruffling his hair -- before following Ienzo through the corridor. Vanitas blinked after him for a second, putting a hand to where Terra had touched, before shaking himself off and trailing after them.

* * *

The place they stepped out into was familiar to Terra, and it caused him to stop again. “I know this place,” he said, looking around at the dark beach. The sky was dark, not a star to be seen, and the purplish-black dirt beneath their boots crunched faintly, the noise the only sound besides the soft lapping of the waves on the shore, the water just as dark as the rest of the world. There was faint light, the rocks and dunes in the distance pulsing with a pale blue glow, but that was it.

“You do?” Ienzo asked, glancing around them with a faint frown.

“Yeah…” Terra nodded, shaking off the surprise and beginning to walk further down the beach, the other two sticking close behind. “Xemnas was here once. He was talking to Roxas...I think it was after he -- after I first went to see Sora, in Hollow Bastion. It’s a bit confusing. But I know I was here.”

_“I’ve been to see him...he looks a lot like you.”_

A lot like _who_ , he thought to himself bitterly. Roxas? Ven? _Vanitas_ , even? He didn’t even know what Vanitas looked like under that mask, but it wasn’t hard to imagine. So many people connected to Sora, it was hard to tell them apart. He had to wonder if Sora could. Though...if anyone would it was him, bright as he was.

He shook himself from his thoughts as their footsteps slowed, the three of them coming to a halt as they saw -- someone. A figure in a black coat, sitting on one of the rocks littering the beach. They were quiet, still, as if thinking, but shifted to look up at the group from the depths of their hood as the trio approached.

“Who are you?” Terra asked slowly, the words -- those words in this place -- feeling uncomfortably, unwantedly familiar.

The figure let out a soft chuckle. “I believe the question is ‘who are _you’_?” He asked, the voice familiar enough to make Terra’s eyes widen and Ienzo let out a soft gasp. “After all, you are the ones who disturbed me.”

Ienzo opened his mouth to speak, but for once -- for the first time in years -- words seemed trapped in his throat, and he closed it again, glancing at Terra helplessly. Terra nodded slowly, stepping forward. “We’re sorry for disturbin’ you,” he said hesitantly. “I-- my name’s Terra. This is Vanitas and Ienzo. We’re...we’re lookin’ for someone. We thought she might be here, or might’ve been…”

“Terra, Ienzo, Vanitas,” the man repeated. “I see...I’m afraid I can’t tell you my own,” he admitted. “I can only say that this is not my first time here-- and the Darkness here pulls at one’s memories, washing it away like the tide.” He shook his head. “But if you seek a young woman, I have seen her. She was here for a time, keeping this old man company. Her name was...Aqua, I believe.”

Terra let out a choked noise, stepping forward. “Aqua!” He said, forgetting himself for a moment. “You’ve seen her?! Where is she, where did she go? Is she alright?”

The man chuckled again, faintly. “Calm yourself, young man. I’ll answer your questions, don’t worry. It is good to know she has people like you looking after her. She seemed rather sad...she wanted to return to her friends, I remember.” He paused. “Terra...yes, she mentioned you, now that I think about it.”

“Did she--?” Terra cut himself off, struggling to remain calm. “I’m...that’s-- I’m glad. Where did she go?”

The man shook his head. “I don’t know, I’m afraid,” he told them. “A short while ago, a young man appeared to us both -- he looked rather like you, if somewhat younger, now that I think about it. She called him Terra, as well. Though...if _you’re_ Terra, then I suppose _he_ was not. Then again, he made no move to correct her.” He rested a hand on his chin in thought. “The stranger spoke of a boy I know, a Keybearer -- two, in fact, two young boys who in the past I did not do right by. But they are brave heroes, and it does worry me that he spoke of them so.”

“Sora,” Terra said instantly. “Sora and Riku. What did he say?”

“He said something about...an _exam_ , I believe,” the man said. “He spoke of an exam, and thirteen darknesses...and vessels. And that a failure may just yet turn into a success.” There was a pause. “He spoke of your friend, the other boy in Aqua’s heart. Ven, I believe? I cannot recall what was said, but when the stranger left, Aqua followed him through the corridor.”

Terra’s blood ran cold. “Vessels?” He repeated. “Thirteen darknesses?” None of that sounded good, vessels least of all, and Ven-- _Ven_ \--

He was already moving before he realized, turning back around to leave. To go where, he didn’t know, but his thoughts were in shambles, the only thing echoing in them _Ven, Aqua, vessels, Xehanort, failure into success,_ **_missing_ ** _\----_

“Terra!” He was shocked out of his daze by Vanitas, grabbing his forearm -- and it was only then he realized how far he’d gone already. Did he start _running?_ “Calm the hell down!”

He blinked, words catching. “Wha--” He finally stammered out. “I--”

“What are you _doing?!”_ Vanitas demanded. “In case you forgot, throwing a panic fit and tearing off without thinking because ‘ _oh no my friends need me I’m a big dumb hero’_ is what got you into this mess! You’ll run right into Xehanort without thinking, and then oops, time for possession round two, bonus level _extra special_ screwed over! Because if you’re possessed on top of, like, everyone else he’s obviously already got, who’s gonna save Ven and Aqua?! It’s not like I can do it on my own, and the rest of your dumb cult’s got _no goddamn_ _clue_ what’s happening!” He gestured angrily. “And I don’t even know who Sora and Riku are, so they’re new kids, and who even _knows_ how much they know! They could be _useless!”_

His fingers dug into Terra’s arm, almost desperately. Ienzo, having followed, paused mid-step. That was a new scent...or no, he realized. One he knew, but hadn’t recalled until. Something almost _too_ sweet, like overripe apples, but edged in something sharper, something off. _Vinegar,_ he thought. _Apple cider vinegar_. He remembered it faintly, but couldn’t place where he’d caught it before until several creatures melted from the ground around Vanitas, a couple sharp-edged little blue things and a floating red sphere almost like a jar. The little sharp things...he’d seen them before. Ten years ago.

“Vanitas,” Terra said sharply, urgently. “You’re-- calm down, okay? It’s okay. I’m not gonna-- I’m not goin’ anywhere. It’s okay. _Vanitas_.”

Vanitas took a breath, and another, glancing around. “Oh,” he said. “Oh. I’m-- I’m fine. I wasn’t-- you’re just being _stupid_. If you weren’t being stupid, then I wouldn’t have--” He hissed, almost like a wet cat, and gestured sharply, the creatures fading back into darkness and taking the smell of apples and vinegar with them. “Idiot.”

Terra inhaled slowly, rubbing his forehead. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t thinkin’. You’re right. I can’t-- I can’t just run off. I _am_ smarter than that, now. I have responsibilities. I have you guys.” He reached out to hesitantly take Vanitas’s hand off his arm, giving it a reassuring squeeze before letting go. He looked back up at Ienzo, smiling apologetically. “Sorry if I spooked you.”

“It’s fine,” Ienzo reassured them. “Neither of you scared me.” He glanced at Vanitas pointedly as he said that, as if to tell him that whatever that had been, it hadn’t bothered him. “But speaking of responsibilities, we should go. The rest of the Organization needs to know what’s going on, and it’s up to you to tell them, Terra. Then we can decide what to do about Xehanort and the others.”

Terra blinked, but then nodded. “You’re right,” he agreed. “We should go. There’s a lot of things we gotta tell the others.”

He glanced at the two boys, and then over Ienzo’s shoulder; the other man, Ienzo realized, though it was useless to pretend he didn’t know who it was. “What about you?” Terra asked him. “We could...take you with us? You could leave here.”

“I’m afraid I can’t,” the man said kindly. “My form, my very being...it’s tied to the Realm of Darkness, now. This coat is the only thing that holds me together, and even then...I fear that if I left this place, it wouldn’t be enough. Your offer is a kind one, young man, but I cannot. This is my place now.”

Terra sighed. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I, uh...take care of yourself, okay? Maybe we’ll come back and visit. You shouldn’t have t’be alone.”

“Thank you,” the man said. “Now, go. Take care of your own. Don’t worry too much about an old man like me.” He chuckled again and gestured, shooing them off. “I’ll be quite alright.”

Terra nodded slowly, opening a corridor back to the Dark City. “Okay,” he said. “Thank you, too. For the help.” He lifted a hand in farewell and slipped through the corridor, followed by Vanitas. Ienzo moved towards it, but then stopped, turning back towards the man.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and his voice came out small, a child’s voice. “I’m-- that this happened. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-- this wasn’t...I’m sorry. I don’t know if you remember, but-- I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Ansem.”

There was nothing but silence, so Ienzo took a shaky breath and shook his head, turning to leave as well.

“It isn’t your fault,” the man said behind him, and he froze. “There’s nothing to forgive. You were but a child. An innocent. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me, for allowing you to get involved-- for allowing you to be _hurt_.”

Ienzo turned back, and the man -- Ansem -- had lowered his hood, deep orange eyes ringed with shadow and his face pale. “But you seem well,” he said softly, fondly. “You’ve grown-- and you speak now. I’m glad to hear your voice.” He smiled sadly. “Has Even been taking care of you?”

“Y-Yes,” Ienzo managed, putting a hand to his mouth. “He’s-- yes. We’re alright. We’re all alright. Even, Aeleus, Dilan, Braig-- we’re-- we’re alright. We’re _so sorry._ ”

Ansem shook his head. “It’s alright,” he repeated. “I’m sorry, too. I’m sorry for allowing it all to happen. I’m sorry for allowing myself to come to loathe you, to loathe what you’d done. It was none of our faults, and yet it was all of ours. But…” He sighed. “It’s in the past now. All I am is an old man whose memories are slipping away, and you-- you’re alive and well. Whole again. That’s all I could ask for.”

He gestured, and Ienzo managed a smile back. “Then-- I’m glad,” he said faintly. “I’m...we’ll take care of ourselves for you. We’ll go home, too. We’ll-- we’ll take care of your Garden. Fix what we did. I promise. We’ll make you proud of us again.”

 _“Your_ Garden, now,” Ansem corrected. “And I already am. Now go, Ienzo. Go on. Move forward.”

Ienzo nodded. “I will. We will.” He swallowed thickly, wiping at his face and trying to pretend there weren’t tears. “Goodbye, Ansem.”

“Goodbye, my son,” Ansem said, his voice filtering faintly through the corridor as Ienzo walked through it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I tell myself this was a plot-heavy chapter? I meant it was a FEELS-heavy chapter. Holy shit, I'm terrible to Terra. And Aqua and Ven. And Ienzo. And poor Vanitas! Everyone gets sad! But it's also pretty plot heavy, and I'm glad I actually figured out the direction I'm taking this. This was originally a super short chapter, too, so. Yay!
> 
> Seriously, though, crying irl at the Ienzo and Ansem scene, wtf. Why did I do that.
> 
> Word Count Comparison: Original 839 / Rewrite 4062


	15. Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that everyone is together and things have settled, explanations can happen. And for some, that requires quite a lot-- people have been left out of the loop for too long, after all, and everyone deserves answers.

When the three of them reentered the hotel from the Dark City’s courtyard, the rest of the Organization were all waiting within the lobby. Some of them had made an effort to fix the place up, righting chairs and clearing some of the debris, but for the most part, it was still a bit of a mess.

Dilan and Aeleus stopped where they were, in the middle of attempting to fix the front desk, turning to look at the trio who’d entered. “There you are,” Aeleus said. “When Ienzo didn’t come back with you immediately, I was starting to get concerned.”

“We’re fine,” Ienzo reassured him, looking around the room. Lea and Isa were perched on the stairs in the back, heads together and talking quietly as if ten years hadn’t passed at all. Demyx was sitting on the floor, legs crossed, watching the others, while Luxord was playing solitaire with his cards and Marluxia was draped on one of the intact couches, Larxene perched on the arm. All of them looked up as one when Aeleus spoke, and Lea stood, giving Isa’s shoulder a squeeze before heading down to meet them.

“You’re back,” he said. “I guess you didn’t find Ven?”

Terra blinked. “N-No, we didn’t,” he said slowly. “But how did you--?”

“I met him-- well, we met him,” Lea explained, gesturing at Isa. “I remember his name. It was a long time ago, but I don’t forget.” He fell silent a second, and then crossed his arms, eyes narrowing. “Speaking of not forgetting, you owe us an explanation, _boss_.”

Terra flinched. “Y-Yeah, I do,” he said slowly, glancing around the room at the expectant expressions of the others. “There’s-- there’s a lot to tell. It might take a while, but after everything that’s happened to you guys, you deserve to know. You really do.” He broke off, though, frowning. “Before I start-- where’s Even and Braig?”

“Oh, right,” Dilan said. “News about that. Hang on.” He opened a corridor and returned with Even, who looked rather put upon. He glanced at the returning trio, pausing a moment to raise eyebrows at Vanitas, but then sighed.

“Braig is in a coma,” he said bluntly, without preamble, and ignored the ensuing commotion, Demyx in particular yelling something inarticulate and most likely profane. “Xehanort must have removed the piece of himself within Braig -- and forcibly, I might add -- and in so doing, shattered his heart. It’s still _there_ , mind, he’s simply...broken.” His face finally shifted from clinical blankness to genuine, if reluctant, concern. “I don’t know how to fix it. For the moment, he’s...asleep. All we can do is make him comfortable until a solution presents itself.”

Terra faltered. “Oh,” he said after a second, touching his own chest. “I-- we’ll have to find some way to fix that,” he murmured, thinking of Ven. Asleep, his heart broken, just for making a stupid choice for a good reason...that wasn’t fair. Not to anyone.

“Braig?” Vanitas asked, turning to look at Terra. “The jerk with the eyepatch, the one with the guns? _That_ guy?” His voice held a frown in it. “What...yeah, no, you _gotta_ fill us all in.”

Terra tried not to roll his eyes. “I was planning on it,” he said dryly. “Now shush, sit down, and I’ll try to start from the beginning.” He glanced around at the others, taking in their faces. The Organization.. _.his_ Organization. Yeah. They deserved to know. He waited until Vanitas had planted himself on the steps next to Isa, Ienzo and Even finding intact chairs. Eleven faces, all watching him. The other original members had heard part of the story, but they still didn’t...he sighed.

“My name is Terra,” he began. “Not Xemnas, not Ansem, not Xehanort. Terra.” A deep breath. “Eleven-- no, almost twelve years ago, I was a Keybearer. I lived on a world called the Land of Departure alongside my Master, Eraqus, and my two best friends -- Aqua and Ven.” He swallowed. “It all started back then, the day Aqua and I were supposed to take our Mark of Mastery exam, to become Keyblade Masters ourselves. That’s when we met our master’s friend, another Keyblade Master named Xehanort. He came to watch our test.”

The memories came easy to him; it wasn't hard, really. Even though he remembered being Xemnas, remembered ten years worth of that, being _Terra_ still felt like it was yesterday. Being Terra...the phrase made him smile bitterly. He’s been so many people, now, so many names and identities. Is he still Terra? Can he ever be again?

“Aqua passed; I failed,” he continued. “I failed because I had Darkness in me, and Master Eraqus believed that no Keybearer could, or should, wield Darkness. He was wrong, but I didn’t know that then. I knew I had disappointed him, and I knew that Master Xehanort was being kind to me, telling me what I wanted to hear. That I was strong, that it was alright to have Darkness in me, that I wasn’t doing the wrong thing. He led me astray, but I let him.” He sighed. “I let him lead me astray, and I let him trick me into helpin’ him kill my master and destroy our world. And in the end, during our final battle, he stole my body.”

He glanced at the original members, and then at Lea and Isa, who had matching expressions of shock. “He stole my body, and when I fought back, he locked our hearts within it, and...I woke up on a world called Radiant Garden, without my memories -- all I knew, or _thought_ I did, was that my name was Xehanort.” He shook his head. “I don’t remember this part -- I dunno if I ever will. But when I got to the Garden, I know I was found by its king, Ansem, and his apprentices an’ guards.” He gestured over at them. “Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Ienzo.”

The group exchanged looks, as if debating who would step in, but then Ienzo stood, clearing his throat.

“Xehanort arrived at the Garden while the king -- Ansem, my adopted guardian -- was beginning to research matters of the heart, and the hearts of worlds. The amnesiac Xehanort, encouraged by Braig -- who had been working for the real Xehanort for a short while before he stole Terra’s body, and knew the plan -- volunteered himself as a subject.” He sighed. “Egged on by Xehanort, Ansem, Even, and myself began experimenting on people’s hearts. Ansem quickly realized we were about to go too far and stopped the testing, but Xehanort manipulated Even and myself to continue in secret.” A guilty expression settled on his face, and he glanced up at Lea and Isa, who looked unreadable. “When Xehanort tricked us into banishing Ansem into the Realm of Darkness, we realized enough was enough. But when we confronted Xehanort, he stole our hearts. I imagine he stole Aeleus and Dilan’s soon after, as well as Braig’s.”

He paused. “And Lea and Isa’s, as well, I think,” he added slowly. “Though I don’t know their circumstances. In any case, our world fell, and the eight of us woke here as Nobodies, the first of the Organization.”

“You don’t want to know,” Lea put in solemnly. “But it’s...reassuring, weirdly, to know you don’t. I’m glad you weren’t involved, after all.” He fidgeted and glanced at Isa. “But around then is when Isa got the scar on his face,” he added. “And when he changed.”

There were scattered nods, and Terra continued, picking up from where Ienzo left off. “I remember being Xemnas, though,” he said. “I remember all of that. I think because when I -- as Xehanort -- lost my heart, or our hearts, it was just _my_ body left behind, while our hearts were our Heartless. So Xemnas was more _me_ than anything else before then.” That made...marginally more sense, now that he’d had some limited time to think about it. It was still surreal, honestly, but so is everything lately. “But even if he was _more_ me, he wasn’t me. None of my memories, and none of my heart. I wanna make sure you know that. I’m not Xemnas, even if I look like him. Even if I remember bein’ him. I’m _not_ him.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know what to tell you about the last ten years all of you don’t already know,” he said. “I know a lot of you were out of the loop, but I don’t think all of it matters anymore. We’re all safe, and we’re all whole. That’s what’s important.” He paused, glancing around at the others. “But I’ll try to answer any questions you do have. I owe you all that much.”

Marluxia raised a hand, coughing. “Yes, well,” he said, mildly sarcastic. “Where do I _begin?”_ He sighed. “First of all, for clarity’s sake, what in the actual hell _was_ your plan? Or rather, _Xemnas’s_ plan, I should say. Given that he seems to have been a fragment of this ‘Xehanort’ of yours, I highly doubt that he had our best interests at heart. I mean, I never believed he _did_ , but...you know. Just to get it out there.”

“No, he really didn’t,” Terra said with a short laugh. “He wanted to create a fake Kingdom Hearts via the Heartless Sora and Roxas killed to get power for himself,” he explained. “That’s part of the real Xehanort’s plan. He wants to recreate the Keyblade War, the one in legends from centuries ago. An’ to do that, he needs to make the _real_ Kingdom Hearts, not the fake one Xemnas made. Xemnas was doin’ his part in that, and you...he was usin’ all of you. I’m sorry.”

It was Even’s turn to raise a hand. “For the sake of the others -- I’m sure not all of our worlds share the same legends -- you should most likely explain what, exactly, the Keyblade War is,” he pointed out, and Terra blinked.

“Right,” he said. “Well, basically, a long time ago, the worlds were all connected. You could just...walk pathways between ‘em, easy. Not like it is now. And eventually, there was a conflict between Darkness and Light over Kingdom Hearts, the source of all light. There was a war, between Keybearers -- hundreds of ‘em. It raged on and on, until the worlds were all plunged into Darkness. But enough light survived in children’s hearts that the worlds were restored, though separated.”

Vanitas spoke up suddenly, startling everyone. “It happened in that world, the dead one, the Keyblade Graveyard,” he said. “That’s where the big battle happened. There’s...you can feel it, if you’re there. It’s creepy.” He shook his head. “It’s where I was born.”

“Which reminds me,” Even said. “What _are_ you, exactly, young man?”

Vanitas flapped a hand. “Let Terra finish,” he said with a snort. “You’re, like, _super nerd guy_ or something, you’ll get distracted otherwise.”

“Right,” Terra said with a soft laugh. “So that’s Xehanort’s plan, to recreate the Keyblade War and the χ-blade, and--” He blinked, remembering something. “I remember. He said something about the χ-blade bein’ destroyed, broken into twenty pieces. Seven lights and thirteen darknesses. That’s what he’s gatherin’.”

Isa lifted his own hand. “Thirteen darknesses,” he repeated. “Does that have anything to do with Organization XIII? It seems an oddly specific number, with that in mind, and considering what he did to myself and Braig...”

“What did he do to you and Braig?” Marluxia asked sharply, looking somehow very pale and angry. “I feel like this should have been brought up _sooner_.”

Isa shrugged, a feral grin flickering across his face. “What did he do to _Terra?”_ He asked rhetorically. “A shard of Xehanort’s heart, in both me and Braig. Lea removed the piece that was in me, and...what did you say about Braig, Even?”

“Xehanort removed the piece from Braig when Braig rebelled for us,” Even explained promptly. “Admittedly it’s rather late, but it seems he did finally realize he was being an idiot and came around to the errors of his ways. It didn’t end well, but…” He smiled faintly. “Better late than never.”

Demyx had gone pale, and it was his turn to raise a hand. “So, so wait. Like-- that would’ve been _us?”_ He asked. “Like-- he was gonna make us into, like, _an army of Xehanorts?”_

“I don’t know,” Terra admitted. “But it sounds likely, as much as I hate to admit it. It’s not like we as Nobodies had hearts of our own. We’d be perfect vessels.”

Luxord’s brow furrowed. “This is a far more complex game than I realized,” he noted. “Though it is refreshing to be finally given the rulebook, after a fashion.”

Terra chuckled weakly. “Yeah, well... _I_ don’t even know the whole rulebook,” he admitted. “But I’m tryin’ to make sure we’re all on the same page. It’s the least I can do.”

“It’s appreciated,” Luxord said kindly. “You’re doing much to redeem yourself in our eyes, Superior.” The title was dropped with no bitterness or distaste, simply stated as a fact, and Terra flushed.

“You don’t need to call me that,” he protested quickly. “Really. I’m not-- it doesn’t feel right.”

Larxene snorted. “You can say _that_ again,” she muttered. “Our boss is a total _dork_ , who even knew?”

“Well, better him than _Xemnas_ ,” Marluxia joked lightly, though there was still an edge of...something strange, something very tense and angry, to his voice. “But speaking of, the question remains. _Now_ what do we do?”

Terra blinked. “Well-- I have to stop Xehanort,” he said. “I helped start this, even if I didn’t mean to. My friends are in danger. I have to fix what I messed up. I have to end this.” He looked around at the others. “But you don’t have to. You’ve been through enough. It’s my fault you were here, it’s my fault you lost your hearts, and I know half of you have no loyalty to the Organization and the other half just didn’t care. We brought you here, we inducted you, and we made you do-- a lot of things I’m sure you wouldn’t have done otherwise. But you’re free now. You’re whole. You have your hearts back, and more importantly, your _lives_ back.” He shook his head. “There’s nothing stopping you from going home. I _want_ you to go home, if you want to. After all this time, you deserve it. You _should_. You never belonged in this mess. You were all normal people who just got unlucky, and I’m sorry this ever had to happen. So...if you want to go, go home. Go back to your families, your friends, your old life. You can pretend this was all a bad dream. I’m not your Superior, this isn’t the Organization. I’m just a Keybearer named Terra, and I have something I gotta do. It doesn’t involve you, and it doesn’t have to. Thank you for...for sticking with me this far, and thank you for everything you did -- even if it was _bad_ , I still...I still feel like you deserve recognition for coming this far. Thank you. And-- and I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what happened.”

He smiled. “But it’s over now, if you want. I won’t hold it against you.” He hesitated, and then bowed low at the waist. “Thank you for all you’ve done, and-- again, I’m sorry. My final order as the Superior of the Organization...is to do whatever you want. Whatever makes you happy. Whether that’s going home, or simply leaving, whatever it is...I want you to do it.”

“Dismissed.” And with that said, he let out a long sigh, eyes flickering to the other original members before looking away again, uncertain and unwilling to meet anyone’s gaze.

There was a long silence, and finally, Terra looked up and back at the room. No one had moved. “What…?”

The others all exchanged looks, but it was Marluxia who spoke first. “Well, isn’t it obvious?” He asked. “We’ve made our choice already.”

“You--” Terra began, taken aback. “No, no, you don’t have to stay,” he insisted. “Don’t feel obligated, it’s _okay_ \--”

Marluxia groaned. “Are you _listening?”_ He asked impatiently. “I don’t presume to speak for the others, of course, but _I_ am staying. Because I want to, as a matter of fact. I have no love for the Organization, and less for Xemnas, but you’ve apologized and more importantly, you gave us a choice. Which is more than most people ever do.” He shrugged. “So I daresay you’ve earned a modicum of respect from me, at the very least.”

“So, here’s my counterproposal,” he continued. “I stay, and you have my scythe in addition to your small army of Keybearers. Point me at the man who made the last few years of our lives miserable, the _idiot_ who wants to start a second Keyblade War, and I’ll help you give him hell.” He broke off to smile rather viciously. “I think I deserve a little payback.”

Terra blinked opened his mouth to protest, but Larxene stood up. “Seconding _that_ ,” she said with a smile. “I mean, really, I don’t care much about being a hero or anything, that’s _stupid_ and we’re obviously not cut out for that, but you know, I’m up for shoving a knife down the throat of the little  _bitch_ who got us into this mess!” She giggled, before breaking off, her face going serious. “By that I mean this Xehanort jackass,” she clarified. “Because _you_ kinda just earned points back by being a huge loser, actually.”

“Uh...thanks?” Terra managed, mouth twitching, and the group laughed at that -- the tension seemed to break at the burst of amusement

Demyx was the next one to speak after the laughter died down. “I, uh…” He began. “Honestly, part of me really does just wanna go home. I’ve been gone for five years, and-- and my friends, my mom, I miss them. A lot. And--” He broke off, grinning sheepishly. “I mean, you know _me_. Work? What work? I laugh in the face of work and responsibility, for I am Demyx, the laziest slacker known to Nobody-kind!” He punctuated it with a laugh, but then he grew serious again. “But...hearing all this? Seeing you, uh...be _you?_ And knowing what’s going on? I...I mean I could easily go home right now, but I’d feel really guilty, knowing I walked away.”

He laughed again. “So I’m gonna stick it out,” he said, almost proudly. “What’s a few more months? My friend’s little sister would kick my _ass_ if she knew I’d ditched an adventure like this.”

“As will I,” Luxord added. “Far be it from me to walk away from the table when we’ve just been dealt in a brand new hand, mm? It would be in poor taste.” He shrugged. “And I admit, perverse as it might sound, this is the most fun I’ve had in _years_. I’m all in, Terra, and my chips are in your pile. Shall we play?”

Terra blinked, pressing a hand to his mouth, and Lea laughed. “Well, you heard them,” he said with a grin. “And I mean, Isa and I aren’t going anywhere. I’m in your weird Keyblade club, and we both have a _personal_ beef with Xehanort.”

“Exactly,” Isa said. “I owe him ten years of my life. I don’t think I’m about to walk away before paying him back for _that._ ”

“And you know _we’re_ with you, of course,” Ienzo said dryly, the other three original members nodding. “We’re as much to blame as you, so we have as much to fix. This is all of our problem, Terra -- you won’t be fighting alone.”

Terra looked around at everyone’s faces, the others all smiling at him -- or smirking, at least -- and he wiped at his face, trying desperately not to start crying and lose whatever dignity he’d managed to gain. “Thank you, all of you,” he said finally. “I-- I owe you for this. Thank you. I promise, we’ll get through this together, all of us.”

“Yeah,” Vanitas put in, speaking at last. “And don’t forget me, I’m here, too.” He snorted. “Man, though, Terra, talk about a pep talk. _Who_ said you weren’t Master material again? Who knew it only took a decade of being a douchebag for you to get your shit together. Congrats, you very much don’t suck.” He applauded, and Terra snorted.

“Thanks, Vanitas,” he said with a grin. “You have a way of putting things in perspective.”

“I live to serve,” the boy replied sarcastically. “But yeah, you done? ‘Cause your nerd wanted the full disclosure Vanitas story, and I don’t wanna interrupt storytime if you aren’t done.”

Even perked up, and Terra let out another snort. “Yeah, I’m done,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Go for it.”

“You got it, boss,” Vanitas deadpanned with a laugh, hopping to his feet and holding out his arms dramatically. “Right, so! Lady and gentlemen, I’m Vanitas. Fourteen or fifteen years ago, Terra’s little buddy Ven was Xehanort’s apprentice, but Xehanort was the world’s biggest walking _shitpile_ of a teacher-- and decided hey, let’s try to make this eleven year old fight a bunch of Heartless to make his stupid χ-blade! And when that failed, he was like-- well, okay, so let’s literally rip the Darkness out of my eleven year old apprentice’s heart, what could _possibly_ go wrong?” Vanitas’ voice was dripping with mockery, but everyone leaned in -- even Terra, who had never heard the story from an unbiased source (meaning, really, someone who _wasn’t_ Xehanort). “Turns out, _oops_ , Xehanort shattered Ven’s heart and created me. _‘Me’_ here being a literal physical embodiment of Ven’s Darkness.”

Vanitas tapped his chest. “I was born without a face,” he explained. “But _that’s_ like, not actually important. The important stuff is the Unversed.” He lifted a hand, gesturing vaguely, and a few of the sharp-edged blue things melted into being. “These. I make ‘em. They’re made out of my emotions, specifically. I can control ‘em, sort of, to an extent, but...eh. They sometimes do whatever. Mostly harmless as long as I say so, really.” He shrugged. “Just don’t kill ‘em, okay? ‘Cause that hurts me.”

“It _hurts_ you?” Terra asked, bewildered. He’d known some of that before, that Vanitas was Ven’s Darkness and that he was the source of the Unversed -- and a vaguer version of how Vanitas had been created -- but that destroying the Unversed _hurt_ him? “I--” All those creatures he’d killed back then…

Vanitas snorted. “S’fine,” he said, flapping a hand. “Seriously, don’t get all guilty on me, it’s fine. It was what it was, and it’s not like I haven’t killed ‘em, too. Just try not to, y’know, get all friendly fire on me if you see ‘em on the field.”

There were looks around the room -- none of them wanting to be the one to tell Vanitas, even gently, that no, that _wasn’t_ actually fine -- before Even spoke. “Fascinating,” he admitted. “I remember those ‘Unversed’ from ten years ago, actually. Now I suppose I know where they come from. I never expected such an answer, however.” He smiled. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Vanitas; welcome to the Organization, for whatever it’s worth. We’ll be sure to keep what you’ve told us in mind."

“Uh,” Vanitas said after a moment, a bit startled. “Thanks? I-I think. Yeah. Nice to meet you losers, too. Though, like, I don’t know any of your names.”

Terra broke in before anyone else could speak. “Oh, that--that reminds me,” he said. “We should, uh. Not use the Nobody names anymore, probably.”

“Why not?” Lea asked. “I mean, I’m all for ditching ‘Axel’ like a hot potato, ‘cause screw _that_ , but why?”

“The _X_ , Lea,” Isa said, rolling his eyes. “You know, the thing carved on my face? There’s a reason the letter’s thrown around everywhere, and I’m sure it has to do with why Xemnas forced us all to put it in our names.”

There was silence, and Marluxia made a disgusted noise. “He _marked_ us,” he said, sounding horrified. “The X-- if you were right, and we were to be vessels, that X in our new names was a _brand_. Like _cattle_.” He glanced at Isa, wincing. “Some more...obviously than others.”

“I’m aware,” Isa snapped. “You don’t have to _stare_ at it.”

The silence stretched on awkwardly, before Demyx broke it with a nervous laugh. “Right, so _anyway_ , guess that means we all re-introduce ourselves!” He stood, coughing, and then waved dramatically, as if he’d stepped on stage. “Hi, everyone, I’m Danny. Danny _Myde_ , in case you were wondering where Demyx came from. I thought it would sound cooler, I guess, and I guess Xemnas was okay with that.” He smiled. “Now you go!”

“Relena,” Larxene muttered after a moment. “Just Relena. And if you call me anything cutesy, I’ll _fry_ your asses.”

Marluxia smiled. “I’ll refrain _somehow_ ,” he said with a laugh. “In any case, my name is Lauriam. It's a pleasure.”

“Damien Dulor,” Luxord said with a chuckle. “Though really, either of those is fine -- it makes no difference.”

Terra nodded -- it was strange, hearing their real names, knowing them. He’d known them briefly, before, when Xemnas had taken those names from them, but now they were _theirs_ again. Whole and safe and free. They were not Nobodies. They were _people_ again, people with names, and it was...nice. “It’s nice to meet all of you, then,” he said. “Danny, Relena, Lauriam, Damien.”

“Don’t forget Lea and Isa!” Lea called out, grinning.

Dilan snorted. “And for the rest of your sakes, I’m Dilan,” he said. “He’s Aeleus,” he jerked a thumb at the other man. “And they’re Even and Ienzo.” He gestured at the two others. “And Braig’s the dumbass in a coma.”

Terra laughed. “Right, we can’t forget the rest of you,” he agreed. “Well, like I said, it’s nice to meet all of you properly. I’m Terra.”

“And I’m Vanitas,” Vanitas said with a roll of his eyes. “And now that the meet and greet’s _finally_ over with, what’s our first move as the New, Not Shitty Organization?”

Terra blinked, realizing quickly all eyes were on him again, and he flushed deeply. He’d forgotten; he was the leader, the Superior. Even if he wasn’t-- oh, boy. He swallowed. “W-Well,” he began slowly. “Honestly, before we...do _anything_ , I think it’s a good idea to seek out Sora and his friends. They’re...involved in this, too, and what we discovered--” He broke off, realizing with a start he hadn’t mentioned that yet. “We found my friends, Ven and Aqua, or where they _were_. They’re both missing, and what little information we have otherwise implies that Xehanort took Ven, because he tried and failed to take Sora recently.”

He shook his head. “We need to know what they know,” he explained. “And they need to know what we do, and that we’re on their side. I don’t want to fight Sora and the others again, and I know none of you do, either. We need to work together, even if we don’t...work _together_. This is a fight that’s gonna take all of us, and a lot of what went wrong ten years ago was because Aqua, Ven, and I split up and never _communicated_.” He snorted. “So I want to avoid that, if possible.”

“Ooh, someone’s grown a brain,” Vanitas joked. “But yeah, great idea. Sora, hero kid, probably don’t wanna be caught by him thinking we’re all still evil and stuff. _Never_ fun.” The others in the room snorted, but glanced at each other uncomfortably, some of them rubbing their necks or sides -- most of them remembered still too clearly the feeling of a Keyblade ending their lives as Nobodies, and none of them were too keen on repeating that.

Lea was the one who spoke next. “I agree,” he said. “I mean-- besides which, Sora and Ven are connected,” he explained. “I mean, come on, Ven and Roxas are _identical,_ and we all know Roxas is Sora’s Nobody. That means something.” That got several people’s attentions, including Vanitas, who straightened. “And even if it didn’t, he and Riku are pretty deeply tied up in this Xehanort shit, seeing as Riku was possessed and stuff, too.” He shrugged. “So I second the whole finding Sora thing, if my opinion counts.”

“It does,” Terra reassured him. “An’ you’re right. Ven and Sora are connected, which makes this even more important, since Ven is missing.” He sighed. “But the problem is, where do we _start?”_

There was silence. “Destiny Islands…?” Ienzo suggested after a moment, uncertain, but then shook his head. “No, they might not even be there. Not with what we heard about some sort of ‘exam’.”

Terra ran a hand down his face, letting out a frustrated sigh. This was _hard_. But he couldn’t just throw his hands up in the air and give up, could he? He had to think of something.

Ienzo looked up suddenly, though, standing immediately. “Someone’s here,” he said sharply. “Outside. I can sense-- Light,” he looked at the doorway to the hotel. “It’s not Sora, but it’s-- _someone_.” _Light and sugar candy and ink._ He couldn’t recall who that was, but he _knew_ he knew that particular aura.

Terra glanced at the group, their faces frozen in consternation and wariness -- even Lauriam looked nervous -- and set his jaw. “Alright,” he said. “Stay here. Don’t come out until I tell you.”

“Terra--” Aeleus began.

“No,” he said. “I’m-- I’m the leader. You stay here. I’ll be okay. I...It’ll be fine.” He wasn’t sure about that, actually, but he had to try. For their sake, and for his friends’ sakes. He had to make this work, he had to _fight_ to make it work. And he would.

That said, he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and left the hotel, walking out of the doors and into the Dark City to greet their visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, meet the massive plotdump exposition chapter. I apologize for this shit, holy hell, but it needed to happen? And in my original fic I literally glossed over _everything_ in two sentences. And I refuse to do that to y'all again. 
> 
> In any case, Vanitas unleashes some glorious unbridled salt, Terra makes good speeches and proves himself to be Better Than Xemnas By A Lot, the MarLar duo pretty much are just here for violence and Dem and Lux are along for the ride. I hope you enjoy my name headcanons for them! And don't worry, I'll...probably address where they all come from at some point, too -- I know we'll be going to Demyx's world, at the very least.
> 
> WHO COULD IT BE AT THE DOOR NOW? //guitar riff
> 
> EDIT: A bunch of stuff was adjusted because Lauriam.
> 
> Word Count Comparison: Original 1104 / Rewrite 5047


	16. The Tower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting with the stranger, and then a meeting with the heroes -- well, the other heroes. You know the ones. Now on the same page, it's time for Terra and his Organization to make their first move of the game.

The Dark City was still quiet, still unchanging, as Terra hesitantly descended the hotel’s steps -- if it weren’t for Ienzo’s warning, he never would have known someone else was here. But now that he was outside...there they were. A familiar face to Xemnas, though Terra had never met him.

“King Mickey,” he said slowly, watching the mouse watch him warily. What does he say? _It’s nice to meet you?_ Or _it’s good to see you again?_ He isn’t sure.

“Xemnas,” the king replied, though he sounded puzzled. “But we just-- how are you-- what’s goin’ on?”

Terra frowned. But they just what? “I’m not Xemnas,” he corrected, and Mickey’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m not.”

“Then who are you?” Mickey asked. His golden Keyblade was still in his hand, but he’d lowered it after Terra had first spoken. “You _look_ like Xemnas. Or, uh, Xehanort, I guess.” The mouse’s brow furrowed. “It’s real confusin’, ain’t it?”

Terra had to laugh. “It is, trust me,” he agreed, and his smile seemed to put Mickey almost at ease. “But I’m not any of them. Not anymore, at least.”

Mickey blinked, and then as if remembering something, he gasped. “Wait a sec! Are you--?” He trailed off, bewildered, and Terra had to admit he was confused. Did Mickey...know him? He had never met him before. “D’you-- d’you know Aqua and Ven?” Mickey ventured finally, hesitant as if he wasn’t sure if it was the right question to ask.

Terra’s eyes widened. “Yes,” he said instantly, crossing the distance between them in a few strides, almost forgetting that Mickey was still holding his Keyblade and only stopping when the mouse stepped back, startled, raising it slightly. “S-Sorry,” Terra said, stepping back again. “I just-- look.” He dug in his coat, pulling out his orange Wayfinder, and showing it to Mickey. “I’m...I’m Terra.”

“Terra,” Mickey repeated, and then gasped. “You’re _him!_ You’ve been missin’ for years, an’ none of us knew what happened to ya! Aqua was gonna go lookin’ after she put Ven somewhere safe, but then she disappeared, too!” He looked excited, but then frowned, shaking his head. “Are ya _sure_ you’re Terra?” He asked. “‘Cause ya look like--”

Terra’s mouth twitched. “I’m sure as sure can be,” he said, trying to keep his voice patient. “Look at my _eyes_ , Your Majesty. The Wayfinder.” He paused, taking a breath, and let Aqua’s Keyblade appear in his hand. “ _This_. I swear to you, I’m Terra. No one else.”

Mickey frowned deeper, staring at the Keyblade. “That’s...” He began, but shook his head, looking up and standing on his toes to get a good look at Terra’s face, and more importantly, his eyes. His blue eyes, no longer tainted with Xehanort’s presence. Then Mickey smiled, dismissing his Keyblade.

“Ya really are Terra,” he said. “Y’were possessed, weren't ya? Like Riku.”

Terra nodded, relieved, and dismissed his Keyblade, tucking his Wayfinder back in his coat. “Yeah,” he said. “Possessed. Three days ago -- four, maybe? -- me and the rest of the former Organization came back. We all woke up here, with our hearts, an’ I woke up as me.”

“The _whole_ Organization?” Mickey asked, startled. “An’ y’all have your hearts?”

“Yeah, we do.” Terra nodded, slowly becoming more comfortable with the conversation. “I've been trying to find Aqua and Ven, and I have some leads, but...I dunno what's been going on since Sora and Riku killed Xemnas. Well,” he amended. “Mostly. I heard about some kinda test…?”

Mickey looked surprised, but nodded. “Yup,” he said. “Sora an’ Riku’s Mark of Mastery. It got kinda complicated…”

“If Xehanort’s involved, everything's complicated,” Terra said dryly. “I was actually gonna see if I could get in touch with Sora and Riku, try and compare notes and come up with some kind of plan. Didn't know how, but now that you're here, Your Majesty, that makes things a lot easier.”

Mickey smiled. “Sure does!” He said brightly. “I can take ya to Master Yen Sid’s tower t’meet ‘em, if ya want, Terra. We could sure use your help, ya know. We need all the Lights we can get ta help us fight Xehanort.”

“That would be great,” Terra said. “But I need to bring two others with me, if that's okay. They're...kind of important.”

Mickey tilted his head, considering, and then nodded. “Ya got it,” he agreed. “I'll wait right here, an’ then we can take my gummi ship to the Tower.”

Terra let out a relieved sigh, nodding and hurrying back inside, where the rest of the Organization waited nervously.

“Well, you're alive and no one's storming the place with Keyblades blazing, so I guess we're safe?” Danny blurted.

Terra snorted. “We're safe,” he agreed. “Our visitor's King Mickey,” he explained, causing several pairs of eyes to widen. “I explained some of the situation, and he’s willing to take us to see Sora and Riku.”

He looked around, already knowing their next move. “We can't _all_ go, so...Lea, Vanitas, it'll be the three of us. We're all Keybearers, so it's probably the safest idea.” He glanced at Lea, who has brightened. “And Sora knows you, anyway, Lea, so that'll probably help.”

“Hope so,” Lea joked. “Axel kinda died for his dumb ass, he _better_ appreciate me.” There were a few expressions of surprise, glancing at Lea -- but he didn’t react, standing from where he was sitting next to Isa with a grin and ruffling the other’s hair. “I’ll be back soon,” he said.

Isa grunted, batting his hand away affectionately. “Just don’t come back with more small blond ducklings,” he shot back, a half-smile on his face. “You attract them.”

“Shush,” Lea said. “Not my fault I collect strays.” He glanced at Vanitas, who had already moved to stand next to Terra, arms crossed and masked face still unreadable as he tapped a foot. “But I’ll try not to.” He wondered about the boy; he was masked and irritable and sarcastic, but connected to Ven, and maybe Sora. And despite the black, sinewy outfit making him look more muscular, Lea could tell beneath it he was built like a skinny kid. Like Roxas, like the others.

He really did have a problem with adopting strays, didn’t he? He snorted to himself, walking over to the other two and patting Vanitas’s helmet. The smaller boy flinched, swatting his hand, but didn’t protest verbally.

“So, are we going now?” He asked instead, turning to Terra. “‘Cause if one more person touches me, I might break hands, and I’m pretty sure Redhead here needs those.”

Lea retracted his hands, holding them up placatingly. “Oh, no, don’t break my hands,” he teased lightly. “I _do_ need those. I need them to hold ice cream.”

 _“Ice cream?”_ Vanitas sputtered. “What about your-- what the hell, you are so _weird_.”

Lea snickered. “I get that a lot,” he said, hands going in his pockets. “Now, are we going?”

Vanitas aimed a kick at Lea, who hopped out of the way, and they both left the hotel, followed by Terra, who flashed the others a long-suffering look (returned in full by Isa) before leaving.

Mickey looked up as they all exited, glancing from Terra to the other two -- and gasping .”Axel!” He said, surprised. “It’s you!”

“It’s me,” Lea said with a snort. “But it’s _Lea_ , now, okay? Get it memorized.” Mickey blinked, nodding innocently, and then his gaze went to Vanitas, and he leapt backwards.

“You!” He said, surprised and suddenly suspicious. “You’re-- I remember you! Ya were workin’ for Xehanort! Y’were the one that attacked Ven!”

Vanitas waved leisurely. “Hi, mouse guy,” he said, dismissive. “Yeah, that was me. Short version, I’m part of Ven, Xehanort was using me too, I’m back, I hate Xehanort, I’m helping Terra ‘cause I wanna go back to Ven.” He shrugged. “Trust me, don’t trust me, it’s whatever. Promise I’m here to help, though.”

Mickey frowned deeply, edging forward again -- Terra didn’t know how the two had met, but obviously there was history there -- before sighing. “Okay,” he said. “Guess I’m gonna trust ya, Vanitas. If Terra does?” His voice went up in question, and he glanced over at Terra, who nodded promptly.

“Yeah,” he reassured Mickey. “I trust Vanitas. He’s kinda rude, and rough around the edges, and he’s...got a lot of Darkness in him, but I trust him. He’s on our side.” He shook his head. “And Darkness doesn’t mean bad; took me a long time to learn that, and it’s an important lesson.”

Vanitas froze, seemingly startled, but Mickey nodded. “I hear ya,” he said with a chuckle. “Riku taught me that a while ago, too. An’ I believe ya!” He gestured. “C’mon, then, let’s go.”

He turned to head back to the gummi ship, and Terra nodded, gesturing for the others to follow. Lea and Vanitas nodded, and together the four headed off to the Mysterious Tower.

* * *

 The trip in the gummi ship had been short and _almost_ awkward -- Lea had filled the silence handily, pressing Mickey for news on the heroes and chattering about nothing in particular, and Mickey had responded; a little surprised, at first, but he quickly warmed to the redhead and chattered back, telling him about Donald and Goofy and the Queen.

Terra had listened with a smile, enjoying how easy Lea had eased the tension and glad for the familiar hum of meaningless conversation; it distracted him and it made him feel almost at home. His eyes kept flickering over to Vanitas, though, folded in one of the seats with his arms around his legs and being oddly silent. A pulse of concern flickered through Terra -- this was a far cry from the sarcastic boy he knew. He couldn’t help but wonder what else he didn’t know about Vanitas. What kind of life had he led?

But it didn’t take too long to get to the Tower, so any of those thoughts were cut short as they disembarked, boots scuffing on the small island as they looked up at the crooked yellow structure. “Here we are!” Mickey said brightly. “C’mon in. Y’all can wait right outside Master Yen Sid’s office ‘til I explain, an’ then I can come get ya.”

“Got it,” Terra agreed, though his heart flipped nervously at the thought. What if, what if, _what if_ \-- a thousand what ifs were already piling up even as the three followed Mickey into the Tower and up the stairs, and he knew his hands shook slightly. One of them found their way into his coat, clutching his Wayfinder until his knuckles were white under the gloves.

He _knew_ Riku, better than anyone thought -- he remembered him, oh yes he did, the little boy on the island with the bright eyes and stubborn expression, whose want for power to protect and whose determination had mirrored Terra’s own. The boy Terra had given the Keyblade to. The boy Xehanort had possessed and hurt. Would Riku remember him? Would Riku hold it against him? Would Riku look at Terra and see _Terra_ , or would he just see Xehanort, see his Heartless, see Xemnas?

He felt a hand on his shoulder and glanced over at Lea, who offered him a reassuring smile. “It’s okay,” Lea said quietly. “I know you’re worried. Hell, so am I. We _all_ are. But it’s gonna be okay. Sora’s a good kid, and Riku’s smart. And you’re _you_.” He patted Terra’s shoulder. “I’ll back you up, Terra. It’ll work out.”

“Thanks,” Terra said quietly, though he didn’t relax. He was trying, he really was, but-- it was hard to, almost impossible. They stood staring at the door, fidgeting and nervous, for what felt like hours; Lea’s foot tapped out a rhythm on the floor, Vanitas drumming his fingers against his crossed arms, and Terra’s own heart pounding in his ears all combining to form a headache-inducing beat, and he pressed his free hand against his forehead.  

Finally, though, the door swung open, and the three started, looking up and into the room. “C’mon,” Mickey said, looking up at them in turn. “You can all come in now.”

Terra swallowed, taking a shaky breath, and drew himself up. He had to be strong, he told himself. Be brave. This is for his friends. That thought solid in his throbbing head, he stepped into the room, Lea and Vanitas behind him, and the doors swung shut behind them.

Yen Sid’s office looked the same as Terra remembered it, the one brief time he’d seen it -- same desk, same bookshelves, same globe, same windows, same old and wizened sorcerer sitting on his big chair, intense gaze upon him. He tried not to flinch back, suddenly feeling like a child again, disobedient and pinned to the floor by Eraqus’s scolding gaze. But no -- he was an _adult_ now, wasn’t he? He was a leader in his own right. He could handle this.

“Master Yen Sid,” he managed, his voice somehow steady, and he bowed. “It’s been a long time, sir.”

The old master didn’t reply for a moment, studying him carefully, and he felt very small and exposed. “Mickey tells me that you are Terra, Eraqus’s lost student,” he said finally, and it was clear in his voice that he was disbelieving, or at least didn’t trust him.

Terra flinched slightly, but a spark of irritation lit in his chest that made him straighten a bit. “I am,” he said firmly. “I _am_ Terra, Keybearer and apprentice to Master Eraqus. I was possessed by Xehanort for ten years, and though it was my body he used, it was _not_ my mind _or_ my heart.” He met Yen Sid’s gaze defiantly, knowing he was no longer the naive boy scared of his own Darkness. “I’m back now, whole again and myself, and I’m here to help _stop_ him.” He pulled his hand out of his pocket, holding the Wayfinder in front of him like a badge, and let Aqua’s Keyblade appear in his other hand. “If this doesn’t prove who I am, I don’t know what will, but you have to _trust me_.”

Yen Sid’s expression didn’t change, but there was a noise nearby, someone who had been standing off to the side moving to approach, and Terra’s heart skipped when he saw Riku. He hadn’t changed much since Xemnas had seen him last, except for a haircut that made him look years younger -- but he was smiling, his teal eyes filled with understanding.

“I trust you,” he said quietly. “I _know_ you. I’d know you anywhere.” Terra blinked suddenly, swallowing at the intensity in Riku’s voice. “I mean-- how could anyone forget the man who showed up and promised me I’d see the worlds one day? How could _anyone_ forget the guy who--” He broke off, lifting a hand, his Keyblade blossoming into it. “How could I forget the guy who gave me this?”

He smiled, his eyes so much wiser and older than the boy Terra had met on the beach, but the words he said next were familiar, and twisted at his heart. “ _In your hand, take this key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking... its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend-- no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love._ ” Riku dismissed his Keyblade. “I found you,” he said kindly. “Or you found me. It’s...late, I guess, but it’s better than never. I’m glad you’re okay, Terra.”

“It’s better than never,” Terra repeated, dismissing his own Keyblade with a sad smile of his own. “I’m...glad you’re okay, too, Riku. And I’m sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen to you. I never meant--”

Riku shook his head. “I know you didn’t,” he said with an almost bitter laugh. “I _know_. Better than anyone, if you were possessed. I mean...you know what happened to me.” He shook his head. “I get it. And it’s okay. You’re here now, and we do need you.”

He paused, and then finally glanced at the others, looking startled. “And, uh. _Axel_ , apparently?” He asked, bewildered, blinking as Lea waved cheerily. “I didn’t-- huh. You...have a lot to catch us up on, don’t you?”

“Oh yeah,” Terra agreed with a soft laugh, returning his Wayfinder to his coat and looking around the room. “Where’s Sora?”

Riku smiled. “He’s a little busy right now training,” he explained. “But Mickey can go get him while we talk.” Mickey nodded and scurried off, and Riku gestured to the side, another figure scooting over next to him, eyes wide with curiosity. “Kairi’s here, in the meantime, so we can catch Sora up on whatever you tell us.”

Kairi waved. “Mmhm!” She agreed. “It’s not like we aren’t used to that,” she added with a laugh. “Sora’s kinda...well, you know.”

Lea muffled a snort of laughter, and so did Vanitas -- the first sound he’d made since they’d arrived -- and even Terra grinned. “We know,” he agreed. “Just like Ven.”

Terra sighed, scratching his head. “Better get started, then,” he muttered, before glancing at Lea and then back at his audience. “Three days ago -- more like four now, really -- we, the whole Organization, woke up in the remains of the Dark City,” he began. “All of us have our hearts back, and I was free from Xehanort. None of us know how it happened. We’ve been doing the best we can trying to piece things together in the meantime; the skyscraper in the city turned out to be a hotel, and we’re using it as a temporary base.” He glanced at Lea. “I know-- _something_ happened the morning after we arrived, something with Lea and Isa, but I’m gonna have to rely on him to tell you that, because I don’t know the details.”

“Lea and Isa?” Kairi asked, something odd in her voice, and Lea held up a hand.

“Lea speaking,” he joked. “Not Axel anymore. L-E-A. You better get _that_ memorized now, ‘kay?” Kairi giggled and Riku rolled his eyes, but they both nodded, and Lea continued. “Right, so! Day after we all came back, Isa -- that’s Saïx to you, blue-hair scar guy -- and I got into a huge fight, and I ran off to Twilight Town to sulk. He came after me, probably to bitch at me some more, and I slipped and went off the edge of the clock tower.”

 _“What?!”_ Kairi exclaimed. “Are you okay?” She leaned over, face pulled in concern, and poked Lea’s chest. “You don’t look like you fell...but you’re not a Nobody, right? So--”

Lea laughed, batting gently at Kairi’s hand. “I’m okay,” he promised. “See, what happened was...well,” he paused, taking a step back and holding his hand out with a flourish. “What happened was _this_ ~” He said dramatically, and with a burst of flames, his Keyblade appeared.

The whole room -- well, the ones who hadn’t seen it before -- exploded in surprise, Riku letting out a loud, shocked _“WHAT--?!”_ and Kairi gasping, while Lea grinned triumphantly from ear to ear. Yen Sid raised an eyebrow but said nothing, shaking his head in thought.

“Anyway,” Lea continued. “I woke up with my butt on the ground, and I headed back up to the tower to check on Isa, we fought, weird shit happened, and--” He shrugged. “Basically, I found out later that there was a piece of Xehanort in him. I made it go away, though, ‘cause I’m awesome and he’s my best friend, so screw _that_ guy.”

Kairi stifled a laugh, but Riku looked solemn. “A piece of Xehanort in Saïx,” he repeated. “Yeah, that sounds like what we know. What about, uh…” He frowned. “The one with the eyepatch. Xigbar? He’s possessed too, right?”

“How did you--?” Terra asked, surprised, but then shook his head. “Yes and no,” he explained. “He was, yes, but he had enough of his own will left that we convinced him to switch sides. Or, uh...he tried.” He shook his head. “He fought Xehanort, I think, at the Keyblade Graveyard. We went to rescue him and dealt briefly with Xehanort himself, but we were able to escape with him -- but Braig...his heart is shattered.” He sighed. “Xehanort removed the piece of himself forcibly from Braig, and it broke his heart. He’s asleep right now, but we’re gonna figure out a way to fix it along with everything else.”

Kairi looked sad. “That’s _terrible_ ,” she said, puffing her cheeks out after a moment and crossing her arms. “He was really weird, I remember that, but if he decided to turn on Xehanort, that’s a really good thing, and it sucks that all he got for doing something so risky was a broken heart.”

“I know,” Terra said with a sigh. “But like I said, we’re gonna fix it.”

Riku shifted, his hands sliding into his pockets. “So you ran into Xehanort,” he said slowly. “Did you...meet a younger version of him, by any chance? ‘Cause we did.”

 _“Ohhh,_ yeah,” Lea said with a groan, rolling his eyes. “While Terra and them were off rescuing Braig, Xehanort Junior turned up at the hotel and trashed all our asses. And Terra’s, when he got back. Vanitas over there showed up and chased him off, but that guy’s a _terror_ , jeez.”

Vanitas snorted. “I didn’t do anything special,” he muttered. “You guys are just lame.”

Terra blinked at Riku and Kairi’s reactions to Vanitas speaking, the pair of them turning to look at him in surprise before Riku coughed and continued. “Y-Yeah, well, he’s...he really is Xehanort,” he explained. “A past version of him that Xehanort brought to the present to use as one of his darknesses. When Sora and I were doing our Mark of Mastery, the younger Xehanort as well as past versions of Xemnas and Xehanort’s Heartless attacked us, tryin’ to mess with us and--” He broke off, crossing his arms a little defensively. “They were trying to get to Sora, use him as a vessel. We were in the Realm of Sleep for our test, and they used tricks to nearly get Sora’s heart to weaken enough to possess him.”

“What?!” Lea yelped. “Shit, is he okay?”

Riku smiled. “Yeah, we -- uh, _I_ saved him,” he said, correcting himself awkwardly when Kairi elbowed him. “He’s fine. But that’s how we saw Xigbar and Saïx -- Xehanort has all thirteen darknesses -- well, twelve -- ‘cause he brought them all in from the past. Himself, his younger self, his Nobody and Heartless, Xigbar, Saïx, and six others.”

“From the _past?”_ Terra asked. “I-- that explains how you saw them at the same time they were with us, then, and why he was so unconcerned with losing Isa and Braig in the present…” It was disconcerting, he realized, how close it seemed Xehanort was to his goal. Twelve of thirteen already...and out of seven lights, how many did _they_ have? And how many of them even really counted?

Riku nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Like I said, we stopped ‘em from getting Sora, but…they’re probably not done yet. Xehanort always has backup plans.”

Backup plans...Terra swallowed, fighting off a chill down his spine as he thought of the news he was bringing to the table. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “I know. And I...think I know what it might be.”

“What?” Riku asked, face drawn in concern.

“Ven.” Terra glanced away. “See, he’s been missing for a while, but-- Vanitas, he was meant to be with Ven, and when he woke up alone, he came to find us. He showed us where he woke up, and-- Ven had been there, but he’s missing now.” He shook his head. “And the only person who could’ve opened up where he was is Aqua.”

Yen Sid frowned. “Aqua,” he repeated. “And where is she? You carry her Keyblade, do you not?”

The obvious suspicion in his voice made Terra bristle, and he took a second to bite his tongue before he could snap. “Her armor and Keyblade were left behind on Radiant Garden when she tried to stop Xehanort after he possessed me,” he explained stiffly. “Xemnas kept both. My own Keyblade is missing, so I’m using hers in the meantime. As for where she is, I don’t know. We were able to follow her trail to the Realm of Darkness, but all we found out is that the younger Xehanort tricked her into unsealing where she hid Ven. We don’t know where she is or what happened to Ven, but...”

“But the obvious conclusion is that either Xehanort has him, or Aqua took him and ran,” Riku finished. “Either way, finding them both is a priority.”

Silence fell for a moment, broken only when the doors to Yen Sid’s chamber swung open, and a voice familiar to them all chirped out a greeting. “Hey! Sorry I’m so late, I kinda got caught up in stuff with the Dream Eaters, an’ it took me a while to get out of it; did you know how clingy Wheeflowers are? ‘Cause, _wow,_ that was a mess, a-- _Axel!”_

The brunet immediately was across the room, tackling Lea with a laugh. “Axel! Holy crap! You’re _alive!_ Mic-- I mean, the king _said_ you were, but, like, holy crap! You’re okay!” He grinned up at Lea, who grinned back. “It’s great to see you!”

“You too, Sora,” Lea said with a snort. “But it’s Lea now, okay? Get it memorized.”

Sora frowned. “Lea,” he repeated. “Okay, I’ll memorize it.” That said, he stepped back to stand next to Riku, hands going in his pockets. “So what did I miss?” He asked brightly. “Fill me in!”

Riku covered his face in a hand. “Sora…” He muttered, fondly frustrated. “At least introduce yourself to the others first?”

“Oh,” Sora said, glancing at Terra, who had covered his mouth in amusement. “Hi! I’m Sora, but you knew that. You’re, uh...not Xemnas?” His voice went up in confusion. “I mean, uh-- sorry. You just have a lot of names, and it gets really confusing.”

Terra shook his head. “It’s okay,” he reassured Sora. “I get it. I’m still kind of confused about a lot, too. I’m Terra, it’s nice to meet you at last.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Terra!” Sora said brightly, shaking Terra’s hand when it was offered, before glancing at Vanitas. “And you?”

The room went quiet at that -- mostly because Vanitas was quiet, and Terra next to him could feel the bowstring-taut tension in every one of the younger boy’s muscles. _“You,”_ Vanitas grit out, his voice cracking. “Your _face---_ ”

“Um…my face?” Sora blinked, touching his cheek. “What about it?”

Vanitas _hissed_ , an animal sound, and his hand flew up, fingers scraping down the front of his mask and causing it to vanish, revealing to the room his own face for the first time.

 _Sora’s_ face.

Vanitas was identical to Sora, save for a shift in coloring -- black hair and gold eyes, yes, but the same face, the same hairstyle...everything identical save for the palette. “This is what!” He snapped, cheeks flushing. _“This_ is what! Why do I have your face?! How are you connected to Ven?! _Who are you?!”_

“Wha--?!” Sora sputtered. “You have my face!”

Lea was the one who caught on first, glancing from Sora to Vanitas and back with a bewildered expression. “Hang on, hang on,” he said. “Okay, okay, so: Sora looks like Vanitas, Vanitas is the other half of Ven’s heart, and Ven looks like Roxas,” he ticked off each name on his fingers, holding his hand up for everyone to see. “So we know Sora is connected to Ven.”

Terra slung his arm around Vanitas’s shoulders -- both to keep him from leaping at Sora like he could feel the boy wanted to do and to reassure him -- and sighed. “That much we already knew,” he said. “Ven and Sora…Vanitas, can you tell us anything? Anything you remember, even something little, might help us figure this out.”

Vanitas tensed under Terra’s grip, a sort of animal shudder that made him wonder if Vanitas had expected to be struck, but relaxed after a second, hands curling into fists. “I _told you,_ I had no face when I was born,” he grits out finally. “I had no face and Ven was broken. Broken real bad. I could feel him slipping away. But then someone connected with Ven’s heart. A newborn heart, I think. It stopped Ven from fading away. And then I had a face.”

“A newborn--” Sora started, and then gasped. “Oh!” He said. “Oh oh _oh oh!_ Wait, I think--” He beams. “Yeah! I met him! He was sad and hurting, so I let him come stay with me!” He blinked, and then his mouth dropped open. “That’s _Ven?!_ That means-- that means he’s in _here!”_ He pressed a hand to his chest. “That’s-- _that’s_ what they meant!”

Vanitas blinked slowly. “Ven’s...heart is in you,” he said, as if testing the words. “His heart’s…he’s _sleeping_ in there?” His voice rose, cracking slightly. “Ven, you lazy _idiot,_ I can’t _believe_ you. You’re just gonna-- _sleep_ , and let _me_ do all the work?!”

“Yeah, he’s in here,” Sora agreed, more confidently this time. “I know he is now. Xemnas -- uh, _past_ Xemnas, the one that was botherin’ us in the Mark of Mastery -- kept saying stuff about me not being, like, my own person, that someone else influenced me, that my heart wasn’t mine, weird stuff like that. None of it, like, made any sense? But now it does! He meant _Ven!_ Ven’s in here, and that’s maybe why I got the Keyblade!” He grinned widely. “And why Roxas looked like him, right?”

“Probably,” Terra agreed. “Roxas was always a special Nobody. I guess...maybe he inherited part of Ven’s heart? Explains a lot.”

Sora laughed. “Yeah, I bet!” He said cheerfully, and then looked at Vanitas, who had edged a little closer to Terra, still sharp-eyed and tense. “So, you’re part of Ven?” He asked. “I’m sorry he’s being lazy, he must get it from me.” He laughed again, smiling and offering his hand. “I’ll make it up to you, promise! It’s nice to meet you, Vanitas.”

“I--” Vanitas blinked, slowly uncurling a hand to take Sora’s, shaking it awkwardly. “You too, Sora,” he said slowly. “Let Ven know I’m gonna kick his _ass_ for making me do this solo, y’hear?”

Sora grinned, putting his hands behind his head. “No problem!” He said. “I’ll tell him. But you’re not alone, y’know? You’ve got Terra and A-- I mean, _Lea_.” He snickered at Lea’s face, crossing his arms. “Which reminds me, I still need to get caught up! What’s goin’ on?”

Kairi sighed. _“Now_ you remember,” she teased. “Okay, Sora, pay attention.” She put her hands on her hips, lifting a finger in the air like she was mimicking a schoolteacher. “Terra and the Organization are back as whole people, the present day versions of Xigbar and Saïx are free from Xehanort -- even though present Xigbar’s in a coma -- and Lea’s got a Keyblade!” She laughed at Sora’s bewildered expression. “Ven’s body is missing, and from what we know either he’s been kidnapped by Xehanort, or Aqua found him and they’re both on the run.” She clapped. “Ta-da~! You got that?”

“Got it, Kairi!” Sora said with a grin. “So what are we all gonna do now? We have to find Aqua and Ven, right, but me an’ Kairi gotta train, and there’s a lotta stuff to do…”

Yen Sid cleared his throat. “I believe,” he began, “that the best option available to us is to allow Terra and his…’Organization’...to seek Ventus and Aqua. In the meanwhile, Master Riku, you will continue your duties and prepare Sora and Kairi for the upcoming battle.” He glanced at Lea, almost resisting the urge to sigh. “As for you, young man, I believe your training will be in adequate hands with Terra. Is this suitable for everyone?”

Terra blinked, glancing at Riku, who had gone pink. “You passed…?” He asked, and then smiled when Riku nodded. “Congratulations,” he said. “‘M proud of you, Riku. You deserve it.”

“Th-thanks,” Riku mumbled, scratching his neck. “S-So, yeah, though, I’m okay with that plan if you are, Terra?”

Terra nodded. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I’ve already talked to my people, and we’re all in this ‘til the end. We’ll look for Aqua and Ven and bring ‘em back here, and we’ll be ready to fight Xehanort once an’ for all.” He grinned. “You train your two well, Master Riku, and I’ll take care of Lea and Vanitas.”

“About Vanitas…” Yen Sid began. “I do not think it wise to continue to allow... _him_ ,” he voiced the pronoun reluctantly. “To remain among those seeking to combat Xehanort. He is unstable, and a being of pure Darkness -- with or without the Keyblade, he may become a liability in time, or a crack through which Xehanort may strike.”

Vanitas let out a breath through his teeth, making to pull away, and Sora and Riku both straightened. “Hey,” Sora said, put out. “But he’s connected to Ven…he’s not-- so what if he’s Darkness-y?”

“Yeah,” Riku added. “Isn’t my ability to use both why you made me a Master? We have to rely on the Light and the Darkness _together_ to do this -- Vanitas is just as important as anyone else, maybe more; he’s a Keybearer entirely of the Darkness. He may be just what we need.”

Terra gave Vanitas’s shoulder a squeeze before stepping forward, his eyes blazing. That was _enough_. “They’re right,” he said. “And if you want to make Vanitas leave because he’s Darkness, then what about me? I may be Terra again, but I’m steeped in _ten years_ of it. Aqua’s spent the last decade in the Realm of Darkness, who knows what happened to _her_ in the meantime? Even Lea has Darkness in him. Even Riku.” He shook his head. “The Darkness isn’t a weakness. Believing that, believing it was inherently evil, and that something was wrong with me for having it -- that’s what put me on the path to be used and possessed by Xehanort. I know now I was wrong and I know that’s wrong. Darkness is not a weakness. It’s not a liability. It’s a force of nature, just like the Light. The only _evil_ in the worlds is the people that use the Darkness to hurt others -- people like Xehanort. Splitting the two into opposites is how the Keyblade War happened. What we need to do is fight _together_ , both as one.” He shook his head. “I have Darkness in me, so does Riku, and so does Vanitas. And we’re going to fight Xehanort, just like everyone who wields the Light.”

Yen Sid sighed. “Very well,” he acquiesced. “You may do what you will, Terra. I will trust your judgement.” He cleared his throat. “Apprentice Terra, I hereby grant you temporary rights as Keyblade Master, in order to seek out Master Aqua and Ventus.” Terra smiled faintly, raising an eyebrow, and the old wizard continued. “In addition, you will train the Keybearers Lea and Vanitas, while Master Riku trains Sora and Kairi.”

“I accept my duties, Master Yen Sid,” Terra said, bowing, and then turned to smile at the three younger Keybearers. “We’ll see you soon, okay? Kick ‘em into shape, _Master_ Riku.”

Riku grinned. “You got it, Terra,” he said. “Call us if you need us.”

Terra nodded, and with a ruffle of Sora’s hair -- and a bit of a secret smile to himself -- he opened a corridor right in the office, and waved. “Take care of yourselves!” He called, and the three of them disappeared back to the Dark City to a chorus of the same from Sora, Riku, and Kairi.

Lea chuckled when they stepped out of the corridor. “You sure told him,” he said with a laugh. “But anyway, we should plan where we’re gonna start first with the others, right?”

“I have some ideas,” Terra admitted. “But we need to talk to them as a group, you’re right. We’re all in this as a team, so whatever we do, I run it by the group first.”

Lea nodded, grinning, and headed up the hotel steps. “Good plan,” he said. “You’re gonna be a good leader, I can tell.”

“Thanks,” Terra said, heading up after him only to be stopped by Vanitas, who grabbed his wrist. “--Vanitas?”

The boy hadn’t put his mask back on, but there was something in his eyes-- something almost shy, but frustrated. “Why did you--” He began, but shook his head. “Thanks for that,” he muttered instead. “It meant-- it-- whatever.” He hissed out a breath and let go of Terra, pushing past him to follow Lea into the building.

Terra just smiled to himself, thinking back to fourteen years ago and a shy and quiet blond that had just arrived in the Land of Departure. They were more alike than Vanitas thought, he decided, and headed into the building after the other two.

They had a lot of work to do, after all. It was time to get started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SHIT BRO. The first 100% original chapter and it's a 6k word monster. I hope you enjoy it! I loved writing Sora, Riku, and Kairi. And holy shit tho Terra got salty. But other than that, this is basically an exposition chapter, blah blah, KH3D happened, we get Vani and Sora meeting...don't worry, action will happen soon, I promise!
> 
> :)


	17. Chains of Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terra fills the others in, and then the idea -- but to carry it out involves a trip back to the former Castle Oblivion. Bad memories are soaked into the walls there, and it's time to discuss them, whether it's wanted or not. But...it's the final step before we begin.
> 
> (Trigger warnings for mentions of drowning and very blunt descriptions of Vexen's fiery death, for those that might be bothered.)

Terra entered the hotel lobby to hear the tail end of a conversation, a few of the Organization members around Vanitas -- still unmasked, his startled and uncomfortable expression visible -- volleying questions over his head.

“---does that mean, though?” Ienzo was saying, expression curious. “Sora being connected to so many others.”

Vanitas shrugged helplessly, but blinked up at Terra when he stopped behind them, looking almost grateful. “Hey, don’t overwhelm him,” Terra said with a laugh. “I think this is more people than he’s ever been around before in his life. Give him some space to get used to you guys.”

“Sorry,” Ienzo said with an apologetic smile. “I get a little ahead of myself sometimes.” He nudged Even, and the little group backed off somewhat, though Lauriam was still eying Vanitas curiously. “In any case, Terra, what news do you bring? Obviously everything worked out with Sora and the others, because you’re all here, so…”

Terra looked surprised. “Lea didn’t fill you in?” He asked. “He was in here first.”

Danny snorted. “Nah, he just went to talk to Isa,” he said, indicating the two, and Lea looked up with a grin and a wave.

“Hey, playing catch-up is _your_ job, boss,” Lea joked. “And you said you had a plan, anyway. Don’t let me stop you.”

Terra stifled a groan. “ _Lea_...” he muttered almost affectionately, shaking his head and exchanging a look of understanding with Isa. “Right, you have a point, though. I do have some ideas.” He took a breath, glancing around the room. “Riku and Sora filled me in. What happened to them was that durin’ their own Mark of Mastery exam a couple days ago, Xehanort and his darknesses -- the young one, and others -- attacked them. They tried to take Sora for a vessel, but failed, and that’s probably why they went after Ven.”

“Darknesses?” Dilan asked. “How many does he have already? He doesn’t have _us_.”

Terra shook his head. “He’s usin’ time magic,” he explained. “Xehanort, the old one, brought his younger self here from th’ past, and he brought past versions of Xemnas, his Heartless, Xigbar, and Saïx here too, t’fight for him.” He glanced at Isa when he said that, who’d gone pale. “It’s why he wasn’t so bothered when Lea freed you, I think, and why he was so willing t’release Braig. He knew he could still use your past selves. _Our_ past selves,” he added, thinking of Xemnas.

“Well, _shit_ ,” Relena said. “Who said time travel was allowed? That’s cheating. What a bitch.”

Danny frowned. “I know, right?” He joked. “We don’t even know the rules.” He paused, glancing at Damien. “Do you? Maybe you can cancel it out.”

Damien chuckled softly. “That’s a clever idea, my friend, but no,” he said. “My own time magic works somewhat differently than I believe _his_ might. It’s not strong enough, though I’m sure if I gave it a bit of effort I could give him quite a bit of difficulty.”

“Oh,” Danny pouted, glancing back at Terra. “So what’s the big plan to deal with the time traveling Nort Squad?” He asked. “What’re we doing?”

Lea snorted. “Nort Squad,” he repeated. “Good one, man. Catchy.”

Terra chuckled as well. “It’s clever,” he agreed. “But anyway, our mission for now is to find Aqua and Ven. Riku passed the exam, and he’s a full Keyblade Master now -- he’s gonna be training Sora and Kairi in the meantime, while we look for our two. With any luck we’ll find ‘em both alright, and then we can all prepare to take on Xehanort together.”

He glanced around the room at all the expectant faces, and took a breath. Like he’d said, he had some ideas -- and so far, here...he felt confident. He wasn’t afraid to speak. “Our first move is pretty simple. I know that even though Aqua unlocked it and put it back the way it was, all the equipment we put in Castle Oblivion should still be there. Since any equipment we had in the Castle That Never Was is pretty much gone, the stuff in CO is our best bet. If we get it, we can set it up to track Heartless on the worlds around here, maybe further out--” He stopped, glancing at Even questioningly, who nodded. “--and that way, if we get any weird fluctuations, we can assume that might be Aqua, Ven, or the Xehanorts, since there won’t be any other Keybearers active besides them and us. It’ll be a lot easier than just going world by world, one by one.”

He shifted slightly, looking over at Even. “Since the equipment’s mostly yours, Even, can I trust you an’ Ienzo to go get it all? Ienzo’s been to the La-- to the unlocked CO with me, an’ he was at CO the first time -- and you two work together, so...”

“That won’t be a problem,” Even said with a nod. “The two of us can handle most of the equipment on our own, though we might need an extra pair of hands…?” He turned as if to ask for volunteers, most of the Organization immediately backing away with hands in the air; they’d all knew Vexen well enough to know better than to offer.

“I’ll help.” Ienzo jumped, startled, and glanced over. Lea had gotten up and walked over, expression for once unreadable. “I know my way around CO, too, and I’ve poked around in Vexen’s storage room once or twice, and I--” He cleared his throat. “I wanna help you. You guys might need a Keyblade around, anyway, just in case of Heartless. So…”

Even looked as if he might protest, opening his mouth and glancing at Ienzo to back him up, but Ienzo nodded. “You have a point, Lea, thank you,” he said, putting a hand on Even’s arm to still him. “We’d be glad for your help and your protection.”

Lea and Even both looked a little startled, but Lea nodded. “No problem,” he said, and glanced at Terra. “Should we get going now, then?”

“Yeah,” Terra said with a shrug. “Sooner the better. Just be careful and come get backup if there ends up being too many Heartless.” He paused, and an odd look crossed his face. “And...be careful in there, okay? Th’ place is-- it’s...just try not to break anything, okay?”

Ienzo smiled faintly. “We’ll be careful,” he promised, opening a corridor. “In and out. We shouldn’t be too long.”

That said -- with one final awkward exchange of glances between Even and Lea -- the three of them entered the corridor and headed to the former Castle Oblivion.

* * *

Even entered the main foyer, glancing around him in surprise. “Well,” he said. “This is different.” He crossed his arms, studying the walls and stained glass windows, the place completely different on the inside from the sterile whiteness he’d remembered.

“Yes,” Ienzo agreed. “I get the impression that this place was Terra’s home, from what he’s said and the way he acted when I came to find them here the first time.” He looked around. “It’s...very lonely,” he murmured, memories flickering back to another castle, another lost home, and Even put his hand on Ienzo’s shoulder as if thinking the same thing.

“Well, we’ll have to be sure to leave it in decent condition, then,” Even replied. “Make sure it’s habitable when this is over.”

There was silence a moment, broken by Lea’s voice eventually from where he was at a doorway further in the foyer. “This place is completely different,” he noted, looking impressed. “It’s sure a lot more homey. CO felt like a damn _hospital_.”

Even let out a hiss of annoyed air before shooting a glance at Lea, irritated. “I’ll be in the basement, Ienzo, come find me,” he said abruptly, stalking off and leaving the other two alone.

Lea blinked. “Uh,” he said simply. “He’s...well. Was it something I said?”

“I think less what you said and more _you_ in general, Lea,” Ienzo said dryly, crossing his arms. “Or have you forgotten what happened here already? I hope not -- you’re supposed to have a good memory.”

Lea flinched at the accusation in Ienzo’s tone, drooping slightly and staring down at his hands. “No, I remember,” he said quietly. “Been mostly trying not to think about it, honestly. I just-- it’s…” He glanced up at the younger boy again, and then back down.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured at last. “I’m really sorry.”

Ienzo looked startled. “Lea?” He asked, watching the redhead. Had he-- well, yes, he’d wanted an apology, wanted _some_ sort of retribution for what Axel had done, but...emotions were difficult. Of course he held it against Axel, but this wasn’t Axel. Or it was, but it wasn’t. It was Axel, the man who’d watched him die, but it was also Lea, the boy who’d babysat him as a child. It was a man he wanted to hate for what he’d done, but it was a boy who didn’t deserve that. A boy too old before his time, just like Ienzo.

“I’m sorry, Ienzo,” Lea repeated, finally looking up. “I didn’t-- I didn’t _want_ \-- my orders were to eliminate the traitors,” he began, his voice cracking. “Saïx, that’s what he-- we wanted to-- we just wanted our-- I didn’t even _care_ about--” He shook his head, his words coming in pained bursts. “I _killed_ you. I killed _him_. I have to live with that. I have to live with the fact that I didn’t feel _anything_ when I did, not even-- not even anything _fake_.”

Ienzo crossed the distance between them, looking up at Lea; the two of them differed in height by nearly a foot, so he had to tilt his head back before their eyes met. Lea’s were filled with guilt, and flickered away as soon as they made contact. “Why?” Ienzo asked simply, a question that had burned in his chest for a while. “Why did you kill me?”

“I--” Lea choked. “I was scared,” he managed finally, his voice quiet. “You knew. I _knew_ you knew. About-- about Saïx and me. If you told, we would’ve been-- and I thought you-- because of Vexen, you would--” He shook his head. “A-And Saïx said-- he said you were gonna be-- gonna replace Saïx, a-and that would-- so I just-- f-for him, and to _protect_ him and---”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I didn’t-- I _babysat_ you,” his voice cracked. “You were a little kid. Just a kid. And I--” He shook his head. “I’m _so sorry_.”

“We both were,” Ienzo said quietly. “You, me, Isa-- we were all children. None of us came out of the past decade unscathed or unchanged. We lost our hearts before we were done learning how to use them, and that…” He glanced away himself. “It didn’t-- none of us are alright. We grew up without emotions, we--” He laughed bitterly. “We’re all broken, Lea. I can’t-- I hurt Braig. I hurt him on purpose, I pulled his worst memories out and threw them in his face because he was threatening me, and I didn’t _care_. I _still_ don’t.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I barely even care that you _killed_ me, Lea. I’m angry, of course, but I accept your apology, and that’s-- it’s that simple. I’m sure you and Isa are the same-- not exactly like me, but-- you understand what I mean, right?”

Lea laughed weakly. “I get you,” he replied. “We’re both-- we all-- yeah. I get you.” How hard had it been to remember how to be human, when he’d first met Roxas? And even then...he’d been so selfish, so manipulative, so desperate for anything like a heart that he’d lied and betrayed and hurt his own friends just to keep them around. Been willing to fight them, to hurt them, just so they wouldn’t _leave_. “It’s...we’ll be alright eventually, I think,” he said after a moment. “We just need time.”

“I hope so,” Ienzo admits, leaning his forehead against Lea’s chest without really thinking about it. Lea put his arm around Ienzo in return. They remained like that a few moments, two too-old children seeking some sort of comfort in the simple shared fact that they had never been put back together quite right.

Eventually, Ienzo sighed and pulled away. “We should go help Even before he decides you’ve killed me again,” he said dryly. Lea snorted.

“Dude, not funny,” he said, ruffling Ienzo’s hair. “Don’t joke like that around Even, okay? I don’t want to die. The only ice I like is ice _cream_.”

Ienzo laughed quietly, and the two set off to the basement. The rooms and halls were all different, similar enough that one could find their way around but at the same time….white marble and dim lighting had given way to warmer halls, paintings and carpets. A _home_. Some doors were half-open, showing storage rooms or rooms with dusty couches, once lived in but now abandoned. It was quiet, still, but not the same sort of heavy, oppressive stillness Castle Oblivion carried in it. It was almost peaceful; the simple, solemn stillness of a cemetery.

Ienzo trailed a hand along a wall, black gloves staining with grey. “This place is sad,” he says softly, echoing his earlier sentiment. There were scents here, old auras that had been pressed deep into the world by years of their owners’ presences, the only traces of them that remained. Apples, he caught -- apples like Vanitas, but sweeter. Ven, perhaps. Another scent of nuts and green tea and something smoky -- something he recognized as Terra now that he knew the man’s scent beneath the Darkness. A third scent, rain and magic and something faintly floral, and a fourth -- cedar tannin and steel. The only remnants of these people in this place, lost to time.

Finally, Ienzo pushed a door open to find the lab -- the equipment was all still there, along with the piles of notes and books; it was surreal, the stark lab equipment and year-old papers sitting on decades old, dusty furniture. Even was kneeling beside one of the machines, carefully sorting cords and cables. He stiffened when the door opened, glancing up briefly before letting out a short sigh.

“There you are,” he said. “Ienzo, come help me with this, I’m almost finished sorting the cords.” He paused, letting out a breath. “Lea, I suppose you can make yourself useful and start going through the research. We won’t need much of it, but I’m sure there’s something worth keeping.”

Ienzo nodded and crouched next to Even, while Lea let out a sigh. “Okay,” he agreed, stepping over to the desk -- a different one than he remembered, but  -- and absently ruffling through the papers.

Nothing, nothing, nothing-- and then he stopped, fingers hovering over pages, and swallowed, eyes suddenly blurring. _Replica Project: No. i_. Diagrams, familiar ones, familiar words on pages he’d touched before, pages _she’d_ touched. Hands curled into fists and he bent forward, trying not to make a sound despite the twist in his chest.

“Lea?” He jerked upright, turning around to see Even looking at him, face suspicious. “What _are_ you doing?”

Lea blinked. “N-Nothing,” he said quickly, glancing around for something to say. “Where’s Ienzo?”

“He went ahead with the heavy equipment,” Even said brusquely. “His lexicon’s pocket dimension is able to carry it all.” He sighed, crossing his arms and leaning against the empty wall, glaring at Lea. “He asked me to remain behind to ‘assist Lea with the paperwork, as it’s mostly yours’, but I suspect he intended us to... _talk_.”

Lea managed a faint smirk. “Talk, huh?” He repeated. “You make it sound like a dirty word. What’s so bad about--”

“You _killed_ me,” Even snapped. “You killed me _and_ you killed Ienzo. Do you think’s that _easy,_  Lea? Do you think it’s simple for me to-- to look at you and _forget_ the feeling of _burning alive?!_ Do you think it’s simple for me to forget the fact that you _murdered my son?!”_

Lea flinched, ducking his head, cheeks burning with shame. “I’m not gonna make excuses,” he murmured. “I did. I killed you and him. And I’m sorry.”

 _“Sorry?”_ Even snarled, taking a step forward. “Do you honestly believe ‘sorry’ is _good enough?!_ It might be enough for Ienzo, apparently, but not for me! You _burned me alive_ , Lea. I will never forget that, and if you really expect me to forgive that, then--”

Lea bristled suddenly, lashing out before he could catch himself. “Then you shouldn’t expect me to forgive _you_ , either!” He snapped back, voice high and cracking. “Not after what-- if you’re gonna say that I’m-- if everything Axel did is my fault and there’s no way to make up for it, then everything _you_ did--” He shook his head fiercely.

“Everything _I_ did?!” Even demanded. “What did I _ever_ do to you?!”

Lea bared his teeth in a snarl, suddenly angry enough that his head hurt. “You _destroyed our world!”_ He hissed furiously. “Do you expect me not to blame you for that because Xehanort used you?! You took my _world_ , Even! My _father!_ Everyone!” He shook his head. “Isa and I snuck into the castle that day, did you know?! Braig and Xehanort found us, did you know that?! You wanna talk about _burning alive_ , Even?! How about _drowning?”_ He ran a hand down his face. “How about the feeling of being shoved into a tiny metal chamber, watching Xehanort drag Isa _screaming_ out of the room, being shut in there in the cold and the dark and _drowning in Darkness_ , unable to breathe as it fills your lungs with _sludge_ , and the next thing you know you’re waking up with _a hole in your chest_ and Isa’s got a massive, bloody _scar_ on his face and _your world is gone!”_

Even reeled back like he’d been slapped. “Y-You--” He choked out, face draining of color. “What...?”

“You heard me!” Lea snapped, blinking furiously. “You-- you took _everything_ from us, Even! Can you _blame_ me for hating you?! Can you _blame_ me for having been okay with killing you?! Can you blame me for--?!” His voice cracked. “I’m _sorry_ , okay?! I’m sorry! I screwed up! I was a terrible person, I know that, and I know I have a lot of work to make up for it! But don’t you _dare_ act like you were a saint in comparison!”

His voice broke as he slammed his hand down on the desk to him and he crumpled, gritting his teeth against the heavy, shuddering sobs he was fighting. In that moment, Even realized...this was a _child_. Maybe not anymore, not after ten years, but-- he’d been a _child_. Not much older than Ienzo. A broken, bitter child he hadn’t even known had been ruined at the hands of his experiments, with every right to blame him and hate him. A child who should never have been here but was nonetheless, just like Ienzo. Broken and twisted like a plant left to grow in the darkness. “Oh,” he breathed quietly, stepping forward to awkwardly tug Lea close, the redhead resisting at first before letting Even hug him, the blond pulling Lea’s head into his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” Even said after a moment. “I never meant for our experiments to...I was a fool. We all were. I never meant to hurt anyone…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Lea. You’re right. We all have things to make up for, regrets and blame to go around. You’re no worse or better than I am.”

He sighed, letting go and stepping back and allowing Lea to scrub at his eyes and adjust his scarf. “I still can’t entirely forgive you for what you’ve done, Lea,” he admitted. “But you can’t forgive me entirely, either. So we’re even. And that will have to do, I suppose.”

“Y-Yeah,” Lea said with a grin. “Just as long as we’re good now, I guess. Or-- _better,_ at least.”

Even shrugged. “We’re passable, I’d say,” he said mildly, stepping over to the desk. “Now come on, let’s get this sorted quickly. I don’t want anyone else helping Ienzo set the equipment up.”

Lea snorted, covering his mouth and moving to the side to let Even at the paperwork. “Wouldn’t want those of us _not_ qualified to be nerds touching it?” He asked.

“Of course,” Even said indignantly, before picking up some of the pages and humming to himself, glancing sideways at Lea. “You were looking at my notes on No. i, I see. Whatever happened to it, if I may ask? Something must have, as it’s not... _here_.”

Lea flinched. “Xion,” he corrected. “Her name was Xion.”

“Xion?” Even repeated. “Right, yes, that would be-- I’m sorry, _her?”_ He blinked. “I don’t--” It was then he noticed Lea’s face, jaw tight and hands clenched. “...Lea, what happened to her?” He asked, more softly this time. “I _made_ her. I...should know.”

Lea nodded shortly, bobbing his head. “She-- she absorbed Sora’s memories,” he explained haltingly. “The ones Naminé was messing with. And because she was with Roxas, she-- he did _something_. She absorbed too much. She became her own person. She wasn’t a Replica, not anymore, she had a face, she was-- she was _Xion_.” He shook his head. “They-- Xemnas had her and Roxas pit against each other in the end, even while she was trying to run away and go back to Sora…Riku found her, told her what was going on. She just wanted-- she just wanted Roxas to be safe. Her friends to be safe. So she--” His voice cracked. “I fought her. I fought her and dragged her back to the Castle and Xemnas took her and did something and forced her to fight Roxas, and she _died_.”

He looked up at Even, green eyes glistening again. “She died, and we all _forgot_ her. She didn’t just-- she didn’t just die, it’s worse, because no one but me even knows she ever _existed._ No one _remembers_ her.” He ran a hand through his hair, the words reminding Even of Lea’s catchphrase -- and how important memories were to him. To realize that there was someone you knew that had been forgotten, so deeply and intrinsically that there was no evidence she’d ever been alive...it must scare him.

“But how did _you_ remember, then?” Even asked, and Lea shrugged helplessly.

“I don’t-- I’m not sure. I just...when I got my Keyblade, she was there in my...in my heart?” He said hesitantly. “She said my memories were-- the way I remember things, even though I forgot her, I still remembered, somewhere in my heart, and I just needed a push.” He smiled faintly. “So here she is. How come _you_ remember her, though, I…”

Even shrugged. “I died before she gained enough of a sense of self to cement her presence in my memories,” he explained. “All of us that did probably remember, even if our memories only consist of knowing there _was_ a Number Fourteen.”

“Ah,” Lea said quietly, turning away to gather up some more of the papers and journals, falling silent for a long moment as the two former Nobodies worked, sorting things into neat piles to carry back with them.

After a long moment, Lea looked up again. “Even?” He asked slowly, and Even glanced over at him. There was an odd look on his face, but it was enough to tell him exactly what was about to be asked. “Do you think-- do you think there might be a way to bring her-- bring Xion back?”

“...Maybe,” Even said after a moment. “We do have much of my equipment, if not all of it, and we certainly have all my notes. Creating her a new body would be simple. The hard part would be making her.. _.her_.” He put the papers down, thoughtfulness sliding into genuine scientific interest at the problem before him. “We can’t use Sora’s memories; the same thing would happen, she would leak, she would be too connected to him -- her existence cannot rely on that of another’s. She needs to be built on memories that belong _specifically_ to her and her alone, so she can exist independently.”

He glanced at Lea. “Perhaps...your memories of her will work,” he said slowly. “You were close. You-- helped her _become_ her own person, am I correct?”

“Yeah,” Lea said, trying not to sound too eager. “I...she’s one of my best friends. It was me and her and Roxas. The three of us together. I-- because of us, she became _Xion_.”

Even nodded. “Then your memories might be sufficient to use as a base to recreate her as herself,” he said. “I’ll have to do research, discuss things with Ienzo...it might be much more difficult now that we don’t have Castle Oblivion’s unique features or Naminé’s assistance, but I’ll work on this.” He smiled faintly. “Have some faith, Lea. I created her once, I believe I can do it again.”

“I--” Lea began, and then smiled -- a wide, genuine smile that made Even almost flinch with the sudden surge of paternal feelings in response. “Thanks, Even, really. Thank you.”

Even coughed. “I-- you’re welcome,” he said, embarrassed. “Now, let’s head back. I have a lot of work to do.”

“Right,” Lea said, scooping up an armload of the papers and letting Even grab the rest. “Gotta get to work.”

Even opened a corridor and they stepped through into the kitchen-lab. Ienzo and Aeleus were there, having already rearranged and adjusted the appliances and lab equipment around the room.

Lea put his pile down and waved at Ienzo, giving the boy a thumbs up. Ienzo blinked and then smiled back, nodding in approval -- clearly they’d worked something out, and though he’d probably get the details from Even later, for now it was good to know simply that they _had_.

“Thank you for the help, Lea,” Even said after a moment, putting his own pile of papers down. “You can go. I’ll keep you informed on what we spoke about. Please let Terra know we’ll have everything set up within the next two days or so?”

Lea grinned. “Sure thing,” he said, ruffling Ienzo’s hair on the way out of the room and back up to the lobby.

Now that the equipment was here, and the nerds were setting it up...it was only a matter of time, now. Then they’d be able to start their search. Then it would really begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't /not/ write over 4k words apparently. And this chapter should be subtitled the 'Castle Oblivion Feels Chapter: in which Lea gets called the fuck out but so does Even and no one is innocent'. I mean...while yes, Axel did murder them, Vexen wasn't much better. Speaking as a die-hard Axel fan /and/ a die-hard Vexen fan (I started out my KH fan career stanning the fuck out of Axel, then 180'd because I found good fic and fell in love with Vexen, and then 180'd back around when Days came out), both of them were assholes and no one's completely innocent or guilty. And really, you have to think about it this way. Axel and Zexion were /kids/. They're messed up.
> 
> In any case, this chapter marks the Official End of the Set-Up arc, and starting next chapter, we'll have ACTUAL OFF-WORLD ADVENTURES!!! As soon as I figure out where we're all going, that is. It'll be fun. Adventures!!


	18. The Big Easy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The equipment set up, the Terra and a few volunteers head off to their first mission.
> 
>  
> 
> _"In the South Land there's a city, way down on the river."_

It was two days later that Even, as he’d promised, had the equipment set up and running. To their luck, it wasn’t that much longer after that that they were all called to the lab, Even standing a little triumphantly in front of the main computer screen.

“Look at this,” he said with a slight grin, gesturing at the display. It was filled with almost unintelligible formulas and equations and letters, with a grid in the center filled with dots. One of the dots was flashing, blinking bright red against the blue of the rest of the screen.

Danny was the first to speak up, raising his hand. “What are we looking at?” He asked, confused. “It’s, uh. Um.” He gestured. “Flashy?”

Ienzo’s mouth twitched. “Even, you might want to actually _explain_ ,” he said dryly. “Remember not all of us here are scientists.”

“Oh,” Even said. “Yes, right, I forgot. My apologies.” He didn’t sound very sorry, but he cleared his throat and continued. “The screen is a rudimentarily programmed map of the worlds around this area, stretching as far as I could manage in all directions. It’s set to trigger an alert when either the ambient Darkness of a world rises past a certain point, or the aura signature of a Keyblade is detected.”

He turned to the screen and gestured. “As you can see, we already have our first alert. It’s a world called--” He paused, turning to squint at the readout on one of the smaller screens. “--New Orleans, I believe. Seems that the Darkness has found it.”

Terra stepped forward, squinting at the screen -- he was kind of shocked to realized that he actually understood some of the numbers scrolling across it -- and then sighed, nodding. “Well, in that case it seems like we have our first mission,” he said, turning to the others and crossing his arms. “Who’s going to come with me?”

The others paused, looking among each other in surprise and then looking back at Terra blankly. Terra blinked, frowning, and looked around. “What?” He asked, confused. “Why arę you all looking at me like that?”

“Oh, no reason,” Lauriam said, his mouth twitching. “It’s just-- you do recall that the Superior was...less than helpful when it came to missions, yes?”

Relena rolled her eyes. “He was even lazier than _Demyx_ , you mean,” she said with a snort. “What did he even _do_ all day besides sit around and monologue and make lovestruck googly eyes at Kingdom Hearts?”

“H-Hey,” Terra managed, reddening while the others laughed. “I mean, you’re not wrong, but. I’m not like that! I’m--” He coughed, trying to regain his composure. “I’m different. I’ll be going out on every mission, regardless of who else comes -- this is my task you’re helping with, remember. I won’t make you do this alone.” He smiled. “So like I said-- who’s coming with me?”

“How many of us do you intend to take with you?” Aeleus asked, and Terra blinked, faltering.

“I-- I really didn’t think about that,” he admitted. “I think it might be best to bring more than just two, though. That was what Xemnas had you all doing, but-- I don’t think that’s really enough? Maybe that’s just me, though. Back before all this I was alone, and that _definitely_ wasn’t enough.”

Dilan shook his head. “No, you have a point,” he agreed. “Speaking as a career soldier -- well, guard -- four is an optimal number, I think. We don’t really need to stay hidden anymore, after all, correct? It’s not like _Sora_ ever bothered.” He snorted. “And four people is enough to make a solid, well-balanced group of fighters.”

“Four? Sounds good to me,” Terra agreed, and then chuckled. “So for the _third_ time, who’s coming?”

Lea raised his hand. “I am!” He said, wiggling it a little. “I want to come! I mean, if i’m gonna be part of the Key Club, I gotta practice doing the hero thing, right? Count me in for the adventure!”

“Ha, sure,” Terra said with a snort. “Makes enough sense. And I can show you a thing or two while we’re there; I’m better at live demonstrations when it comes to teaching people things, anyway.”

Vanitas snickered. “Is that a fancy way of saying ‘I’m a terrible teacher, just watch me hit things and do what I do’, Terra?” He asked, and Terra coughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Any case, I’m coming too. That alright with you, Red?”

“Of course it is!” Lea laughed. “Why would I complain? Why d’you wanna come, anyway, Vanitas? Didn’t think you’d be this gung-ho about hero-ing. No offense.”

Vanitas shrugged. “Does it matter?” He said defensively. “I just-- I know Terra. I don’t know literally any of the rest of you. Rather be with the dumb brick then strangers. Not a big deal, right?”

Terra blinked. “No,” he said with a smile. “Of course it isn’t,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m actually glad you’re coming. It’ll be nice to get you out and about, right? Pretty sure you haven’t been to all that many places, either.”

“N-No,” Vanitas said, shifting awkwardly. “Mostly just spent all my time in the Graveyard…” He coughed. “But whatever. Point is I’m coming, so, yeah.”

Terra ruffled Vanitas’s hair. “Glad to have you aboard,” he said, and then glanced up at the rest. “So that’s three. Who wants to be number four?”

There was a moment of silence, everyone looking at each other and considering the offer -- and debating whether it was worth it to tag along with Lea and Vanitas, two known smart-asses -- before Relena, of all people, stepped forward with a casual shrug.

“Sure, why not?” She asked flippantly. “You’re all being _wusses_ about this, y’know. Oh _no_ , the _horror_ , putting up with our favorite firebug and the bratty Sora recolor,” she scoffed, draping an arm over her head dramatically. “How will we _survive_ them? You might not, but I sure will. Count me in, boss-man.”

Terra laughed. “Sure,” he said. “So Lea, Vanitas, and Relena, then? Alright. Go get ready, you guys, and meet me back in the lobby in ten. Got it?”

“Got it!” The other three chorused, Relena snapping a jaunty salute, and Terra nodded.

“Good,” he said. “In that case -- and I hate to borrow a term from Xemnas, but -- you’re all dismissed. See you all later.”

Everyone waved and chorused goodbyes and good lucks, and they all left; most back to their rooms or elsewhere, and the three accompanying Terra to go get ready. He knew it wouldn’t take much time, as it was mostly just grabbing their coats and trying to find as many Potions as they could. Not that it was that many, since the brave moogle that had sold them things during the last few years had vanished. They were sorely lacking in supplies, Terra mused. They probably needed to find some and soon.

He didn’t really have much to do to get ready himself besides stop at his room to recheck Aqua’s armor -- an odd tradition Xemnas had started he couldn’t bring himself to stop -- so by the time the others made it to the lobby, he’d already been waiting for a few minutes, leaning against the wall and trying not to get lost in thought.

“Hey, guys,” he said, lifting a hand. Lea waved back and Relena rolled her eyes as Vanitas trotted up.

“Hey,” he said. “So...now we leave? That how this works?”

Lea nodded. “Yep!” He said with a grin. “Are we following standard Organization mission rules, or is this, like...whatever Keybearer rules are?”

“We’re doing this Keybearer style,” Terra said with a laugh. “Which, honestly, is just show up and get pointed at the Heartless problem and hit it until it goes away. Give or take helping anyone in the vicinity who have especially pressing problems they need help with.”

Relena made a face. “Ew, being good Samaritans,” she muttered, but then shrugged. “Guess it’s better than sneaking around like cheap cat burglars, though.”

“Yeah, really,” Lea joked. “I was so sick of diving behind buildings every time someone even remotely looked suspicious.” he shrugged, grinning at the others. “So... _shit_ , let’s be Sora!”

Vanitas snorted. “Right, well, gonna just follow your lead,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “So lead the way, oh great and mighty Keyblade expert.”

Terra snorted, shaking his head. “Right, right, you got it,” he said, lifting a hand and opening a corridor, concentrating on the coordinates Even had given him. It flared to life, and he turned to gesture at the others. “Let’s go, then.”

The others nodded, and the four of them entered the corridor, heading to New Orleans.

* * *

“Whoah,” Lea said, glancing around at the city laid out before them. “This place is pretty bustling.”

It was a large city, gulls flying through the bright blue sky and landing on distant docks and the white ferryboat floating in the river beside them. The streets were crowded with cars and people bustling to and fro, the men dressed in suits or vests or shirtsleeves and the women in plain patterned dresses and bucket hats. The buildings were brick or painted concrete, all two or three stories, with large windows with open shutters and wrought-iron balconies on almost every one of them, facing out on the streets. Every so often a trolley would trundle down the tracks running through the middle of the streets attached to a cable above them, filled to the brim with people, some reading newspapers and others simply talking. There was a park by them, wrought iron gates and stone walls, trees shading the sidewalk that ran by it. The air smelled like potpourri and cooking food and spice, and was filled with faint music.

“It’s nothing like any place I’ve been before,” Terra said with a smile. “I like it. It feels really… _alive_ , I guess.”

Vanitas took a step closer to Terra, glancing around him a bit warily. “Yeah,” he muttered. “Alive. Let’s just find the source of Super Nerd’s signal and get outta here, huh?”

“Aw, c’mon, brat,” Relena said with a laugh. “Enjoy yourself! Boss-man already said we’ll probably be sticking around to play hero for a bit, so get used to it.” She flapped a hand. “I like this town. Let’s go exploring, huh?”

Vanitias stuck his tongue out at her and Lea snickered. Terra rolled his eyes, but nodded, gesturing for the others to follow. “We should probably stick to back streets even if we’re not actively hiding -- it’s pretty obvious we stand out, and I’m not sure I want us to draw a crowd or anything.”

They all set off, turning a corner and heading to a side street, not really having a destination in mind but wandering anyway, heading in the general direction of the docks and the warehouses beside them.

After a few minutes of walking, though, they heard a commotion -- a woman shouting -- and Terra took off, the others close behind. They turned another corner into a cobbled intersection behind a few buildings, and nearly ran into a group of Heartless; a few Shadows, Soldiers, and Crescendos, and a couple of a new Emblem Heartless that looked vaguely like a large alligator. They were approaching a woman in a plain green dress, her dark hair in a bun and a few brown grocery bags in her arms. She didn’t seem too frightened, her dark eyes narrowed and an annoyed frown on her face, but she was backed against a wall and surrounded.

“I am running _late_ ,” she snapped at the Heartless. “I do _not_ have time for-- for whatever you are!”

Of course, they didn’t respond, and she let out a short huff, squeaking nervously as one of the Soldiers swiped at her.

Terra summoned his Keyblade and the others followed suit, Relena’s knives appearing between her fingers. “Come on,” he said, rushing into the square. “Hang on!” He called to the woman, who looked startled. “Just stay there, we’ve got this!”

She nodded wordlessly, and the four of them split off, Terra taking on the huge alligator Heartless while the others took care of the rest. It wasn’t a hard fight, most of them being easy to handle, and Terra was able to finish off the Gator within a few strikes.

He dismissed his Keyblade, shaking his hand a little with a wince -- Stormfall wasn’t really built for his fighting style, and it made the harder strikes sting a bit -- before turning towards the woman, concerned. “You okay, ma’am?” He asked, and she blinked a few times before shaking herself off and responding.

“Huh-- oh, yeah, I’m alright,” she said with a laugh, shifting her bags to balance them on her hip. “That was pretty incredible, y’all. Who _are_ you people? Never seen anything like that, or those-- whatever you call ‘ems you just took care of.” She shook her head. “Thought they were somethin’ like Facilier’s shadows at first, but he ain’t got _nothin’_ like those tootin’ horn-blower things.”

Terra glanced at the others for a moment, and then shrugged. “I’m Terra, and my friends and I are, uh...well, we’re not from around here,” he explained. “Neither are those things. They’re called Heartless, and it’s kind of our job to hunt ‘em down wherever they show up and take care of them. We followed them here, so…” He chuckled. “That’s pretty much our deal.”

“Heartless, huh?” The woman said. “Well, never heard of ‘em, but if they’re new around here, makes enough sense.” She grinned. “And y’all are definitely not from around here, in _those_ outfits. No one with a lick of common sense wears that much black around here, _especially_ in the middle of summer.”

Lea laughed. “Yeah, we know,” he admitted. “We stick out. But we don’t really have much else, so I guess we’re stuck for now.”

“For now,” Relena emphasized, crossing her arms, and tilting her head at the woman. “Who’s this Facilier you mentioned? He’s probably something we should know about if you thought the Heartless were _his_.”

The woman shrugged. “Voodoo man,” she explained. “He messed with me and mine a while back, real good. We took care of him back then, though. Watched his own shadows drag ‘im off myself.” She pursed her lips. “But I’ve been seein’ some stuff around my place lately that’s got me a bit on edge, if I gotta be honest. Thought this was just another thing to put on the list ‘til y’all showed up.”

“Well, I don’t know what _voodoo_ is,” Vanitas put in. “But it sounds like you think this guy’s back. And speaking from experience, getting eaten by shadows doesn’t actually _work_ sometimes. Sometimes it just makes the guy even angrier.” He paused. “And stronger, but that one’s hit or miss.”

The woman snorted. “Well, _that’s_ reassuring,” she said sarcastically, but shook her head. “Well, it don’t matter. I was plannin’ to head out to the bayou and talk to Mama Odie about gettin’ some protection for my restaurant,” she explained. “Mama’s a voodoo priestess like Facilier, but she’s a hell of a lot, uh...nicer, guess you could say. She helped us before, so I figure she’ll have somethin’ up her sleeve to help me out now.”

“Your restaurant?” Terra asked, concerned. “What about _you?”_

She shrugged. “Me and mine dealt with him before. I ain’t too worried about us. I just don’t want him messin’ with my customers.”

“Pretty brave of you,” Lea said approvingly. He glanced over at Terra, who did the same, and both of them nodded. Seemed they had the same idea, Terra reflected, and he turned back to the woman.

“If it’s alright with you, ma’am, would you like us to, uh-- go with you to Mama Odie’s?” He asked. “If there’s Heartless around, they’ll probably be trouble if you go alone.” And, he added silently to himself, she might be able to answer a few of their questions. He got the feeling she might be one of those people who knew about the Heartless already.

The woman looked startled, and then smiled. “Sounds good to me. Might be good to have y’all around, if those things are creepin’ around the bayou,” she said, and then nodded down the street. “C’mon back to my place, then. Treat you to some dinner and we can head off in the mornin’.”

Terrra and the others exchanged surprised looks, and then nodded, following her down to the docks. Dinner sounded great, actually -- Nobodies had never needed to eat (or sleep, really), though they did mostly because it was a remembered habit, but now that they were human...the last five or so days had been spent raiding the pantries of the hotel, but none of them had actually sat down to eat a proper meal.

As they walked, the woman introduced herself as Tiana, and the others introduced themselves in turn. Surprisingly, Relena walked beside Tiana as they headed to her restaurant, talking -- Terra was pleasantly surprised the blonde was able to hold a friendly conversation with _anyone_ , really. It was nice to see. That thought was actually a bit odd in itself; but he figured he was just...attached to the other former Organization members. Memories of ten years around most of them, he guessed, and while Xemnas hadn’t given a damn...he wasn’t Xemnas.

The street opened up before them and they paused, surprised -- it was obvious where they were headed now, as between several warehouses sat a beautiful building, red brick and white pillars, strung with lights (off now, but that would light the whole place when the sun set in a few hours). It was two stories tall, a balcony over the entrance, and the windows all had green and white striped canopies over them. Above the second floor windows was a sign; _Tiana’s Palace_ written in bright cursive.

“Oooh,” Relena said appreciatively. “Nice place.”

Tiana smiled proudly. “Ain’t it? She’s been my dream for-- my whole life, really. Took me long enough, but all the hard work was worth it.” She led them around the back, entering the restaurant through the kitchens and putting her bags of one of the counters. “Naveen!” She shouted, moving to the doorway. “We got company! Get your butt down here!”

“I am coming, I am _coming!”_ A voice called from outside the room, and a moment or two later a handsome, dark-haired man in his shirtsleeves swung into the room, wrapping an arm around Tiana’s waist and twirling her a bit. She laughed, shoving at his chest.

“Naveen, quit that,” she scolded with a faint smile. “We got _guests_. They helped me out with a problem earlier, an’ they’re gonna tag along to Mama Odie’s.”

The man blinked, glancing up to look at Terra and the others, an eyebrow rising. “Oh?” He said. “Well, that is good news! They are-- not from around here, are they?”

“Obviously,” Tiana said with a laugh. “They’ve got their own business in New Orleans, and it just so happens that our businesses overlap. So here they are.” She turned to Terra and the others. “This’s Naveen -- well, I’m sorry, _Prince_ Naveen of Maldonia,” she clarified, saying his title with no small amount of teasing sarcasm, and Naveen sketched a bow with a chuckle. “He’s mine -- it was him who kicked off the trouble with Facilier a while back.”

She turned to Naveen,who looked a little sheepish. “It all turned out alright in the end, though,” she added. “Any case, Naveen, this here’s Terra and his friends.”

“ _Achidanza._ A pleasure, I am sure,” Naveen said, offering his hand to Terra, who shook it. “Thank you for your help.” He paused, and glanced over at Tiana. “I, ah, should probably tell you, Tiana, um. Your new friends are not our only compa--”

He was cut off by a woman’s voice from somewhere in the restaurant, cheerful and very loud. _“Tia~naaaaa!”_

Tiana winced and shook her head, shooting a look at an embarrassed Naveen, but smiled. “Well, we got a full house tonight,” she joked. “Y’all, c’mon. I’ll introduce you to Lottie.”

She led them out of the kitchen and into the restaurant proper -- it was beautiful, gold wallpaper and furnishings and a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling, a dozen or so tables down the center and leading to a stage in the back (a dancefloor in front of it) with more around the sides, separated from the main area by gold railings, and extra seating on the second floor balcony lining the room. The tables all had lilypad shaped candle-holders and green tablecloths, and there were hanging plants and palm trees dotting the floor.

Perched on one of the tables was a young blonde woman in a pink dress, who waved frantically when the group entered the dining room. “Heyyy!!” She called brightly, hopping off the table and running up to hug Tiana. “How ya doin’, Tia! Naveen said you were out gettin’ some things from the store, so I stuck around t’wait, and _hell-o_ , who do we have here?” She’d noticed Terra and the others, eyebrows rising as she gave Terra and Lea appraising once overs. “Y’all didn’t tell me you had some handsome friends like this,” she said. “Where’d _they_ come from?”

Terra blushed, coughing, and Lea winked at her, making her giggle. Tiana snorted. “Out of town, Lottie,” she explained. “Helped me out on my way back to the restaurant, an’ offered to tag along to Mama Odie’s tomorrow.”

“Ooooh,” Lottie said with a grin. “Handsome _and_ helpful.” She winked at them. “Thanks, y’all,” she added, a little more serious. “I didn’t want Tia goin’ out there all on her lonesome with the Shadow Man possibly bein’ back around, so I appreciate y’all doin’ this for her.” She looked thoughtful, and then clapped her hands together, clearly getting an idea. “Tell y’all what! You can stay at my place tonight, an’ I’ll have someone drive y’all to the edge of the bayou tomorrow mornin’. How’s that sound?”

Tiana reddened slightly, chuckling. “Aw, Lottie, you don’t have to,” she said. “I can get ‘em there myself.”

“Hush,” Lottie said. “Least I can do for ‘em in return for them helpin’ out my very best friend.” She glanced at them again, raising her eyebrows. “An’ I can probably find ‘em somethin’ more flatterin’ to wear than those, uh.” She flapped a hand, making a face at the coats and Vanitas’s armor. “ _Those._ ”

Relena stifled a snort, and Terra laughed. “Lottie, right? Thanks,” he said. “We appreciate the hospitality. We’d, uh, also appreciate the clothes. We’re a bit...well, we wouldn’t be wearin’ these if we had anything else at the moment.”

Lottie clucked. “Like I said, darlin’, least I can do,” she said with a laugh. “Is Tia feedin’ y’all? We can head back to my place after that.”

* * *

 

Tiana made them all dinner before the restaurant opened, shooing them all out of the kitchen. Naveen and Lottie -- Charlotte la Boeuff, as she introduced herself properly -- made small talk with Terra and the others, Terra giving them some sparse details about their reason for being here. Relena and Charlotte hit it off, oddly, the two leaning close and talking in whispers, while Lea, Terra, and Naveen talked about nothing in particular. Vanitas was quiet, leaning on his hands and listening to the other conversations almost curiously.

Eventually Tiana recruited Naveen to bring out the food, plates of dirty rice and gumbo for everyone, and a platter of beignets to share for dessert. The food was delicious -- made even better by the fact that none of them had eaten properly in a while -- and Terra watched almost fondly as Vanitas seemed completely awed by it all. It occurred to him that he wasn’t actually sure if Vanitas had ever had food in general, as he’d never seen him eat in the past two days on top of what little he knew of the boy’s past. Well, he was eating now, and he seemed to genuinely enjoy it all. Especially the beignets, he noted with a quiet laugh. He’d managed to put away half the plate of pastries all on his own.

Tiana bid them goodnight as they left with Charlotte, telling them she’d meet them early the next morning at Charlotte’s place. That said, the blonde girl took them all to her place via the trolley -- and four jaws dropped when they got to her house -- well, her _mansion_.

“Whoah,” Lea said after a moment, as Charlotte took them inside. “ _Nice._ ”

Charlotte giggled. “Ain’t it?” She asked. “Daddy’s outta town for a while on business, so we got the whole place to ourselves,” she said brightly. “Now c’mon, y’all. I’ll get you somethin’ to wear tomorrow.”

Several hours of trying on clothes -- much to their mixed amusement and mild trepidation -- later, Charlotte showed them to some guest rooms, and Lea collapsed face-first onto one of the beds.

“She’s terrifying,” he said, his voice muffled. “How is a tiny blonde girl so _scary_ when you give her a walk-in closet and a project?”

Relena snorted, perching on the desk in the room and leaning her arms on her knees, resting a chin in a hand. “Girls can be like that,” she said with a laugh. “I think it’s cute~ And hell, are _you_ complaining about the clothes? ‘Cause i’m sure not. Anything’s better than this damn coat.”

“Point taken, and seconded on the coat thing,” Lea said, lifting a hand to give them a thumbs-up.

Terra laughed, sitting on the other bed and watching Vanitas fidget with the hem of the pajamas Charlotte hand lent them all. It was a bit odd to see him out of his bodysuit -- Terra wasn’t even sure where it had gone, actually -- but it made him look a lot more human, and a lot younger. Without it it was much easier to see his youth, his lean, skinny frame now visible. “You alright, Vanitas?” He asked, and the boy blinked, fiddling with the collar of his shirt.

“Y-Yeah,” he said with a faint grin. “Y’know, didn’t actually think I _could_ take the bodysuit off ‘til now,” he admitted with a shrug. “It’s weird, but I’m not complaining.”

Relena laughed. “Who _would?”_ She said. “That thing didn’t look very comfortable.” She yawned, stretching, and adjusted the collar on her nightgown. “If I were you, I’d have jumped at the first chance I got to get my ass out of it.”

“Well, he kinda did,” Terra pointed out with a snort, but then his face shifted to curiosity as he glanced at Relena. “You’re in a pretty good mood today, Relena,” he noted. “Any reason why?”

Relena looked startled, and bit her lip before shrugging. “It’s nothing _important_ ,” she said vaguely, waving a hand. “It’s just--”

“It’s just what?” Terra prompted, a smile on his face. “It’s okay, Relena. Won’t leave the room if you don’t want it to.”

Lea nodded, though it was a bit awkward as he was still face-down. “Yup,” he said. “No one’s gotta know you’re not terrifying 24/7.”

Relena flipped him off, but then sighed, leaning back against the wall. “This place just reminds me of my homeworld,” she admitted. “Not-- _really_ , because this world’s a lot more modern than mine, but...enough, I guess.”

“Your homeworld?” Terra asked curiously. “What world is that? I-I mean, if it’s alright to ask.”

Relena shrugged. “Cite des Cloches,” she said offhandedly. “We call the city Notre Dame, though. It’s French. So’s New Orleans, in a way. So...it makes me think of home.” She snorted. “Not that thinking of home’s a _good_ thing most days. Which I guess...the fact that this place is making me all nostalgic is pretty special, then.”

“You don’t like your homeworld?” Lea asked, sitting up in surprise. “What’s the deal with the place that’s so bad?”

Relena made a face. “The short version is that most people there are racist jackasses,” she said with a snort. “The longer version is that my father was Romani -- _gypsy_ , they call us -- and that makes me about as welcome around most places on my world as a cockroach, and treated about the same.” She crossed her arms tight against her chest. “My parents died when I was four -- well, they were _killed_ , but same difference. Grew up in the Romani settlement we’ve got undergound, the Court of Miracles, but it wasn’t exactly Lottie and her _mansion_ , so.” She shrugged. “Wasn’t all that sad to leave.”

“Wasn’t all that-- Relena, you left ‘cause you lost your heart and got picked up by our creepy Nobody cult,” Lea said, surprised and a little exasperated. “How’s that anywhere _near_ a good thing?”

“Well, it was better than before,” she said with a bitter smile. “My heart wasn’t doing me all that much good back then, trust me. For a while I thought I was better off without it.”

The others didn’t respond, but she frowned, waving a hand. “Don’t make pitying faces at me, you two,” she snapped, a little embarrassed. “I’m not waving a sob story around and looking for sympathy. It happened, I lost my heart, I left, I died, I got my heart back, and now I’m here. End of story.”

She hesitated, and managed a small smile. “And hey. With you dumbasses, I don’t think I mind having a heart as much anymore. You’re a lot better than most people.” She paused and then added quickly. “O-Or at least more _entertaining,_ I mean.”

Lea smiled back. “Aw, thanks,” he said teasingly, though there was an edge of sincerity to it. “Glad to know we entertain you, Relena. Can’t say it’s not nice to have you around, too.”

“It is,” Terra agreed. “We’re glad to have you, and I’m glad you stuck around.”

Relena blinked, and then smiled faintly again. “Yeah, yeah, you saps,” she said, hopping off the desk and heading over to the empty bed. “Go to sleep. Brat’s already out cold, follow his lead.”

The two looked over and Terra laughed, getting up and moving over to Vanitas’s bed to tuck the sleeping boy in, pulling the covers over his curled-up form. “Right,” he agreed. “Gonna be a hell of a day tomorrow. You all better get some rest.”

Relena gave him another jaunty salute, and Lea waved his assent, reaching over to turn off the lamp.

It was definitely going to be a hell of a day tomorrow. Even if the trip to the bayou itself was uneventful...the Heartless were still out there. And sooner or later they’d have to handle that.

And that wasn’t even counting the possibility of that Facilier. The Shadow Man...Terra had a bad feeling about that.

But that was tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just like I promised! College is starting this week for me, and I wanted to get a balance between fic, schoolwork, and RP, so I made myself schedule it. Chapters will be up MWF unless something comes up, and then they'll be posted the very next day.
> 
> Anyway, we finally get to the meat of the story! I'm really excited, I have so much planned. First off, welcome to New Orleans! I'm a little nervous about writing all these Disney characters, but so far so good, I think. Everyone's being cute, Terra's being a Dad, and...
> 
> Well, I hope you enjoy a glimpse of Larxene's backstory! She'll never tell anyone all of it, but. :)


	19. Down to the Bayou

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And off they go to the bayou to visit Mama Odie. And as usual, she dispenses advice and aid, and it's a good thing, too, because trouble's coming.
> 
>  
> 
> _"Blue skies and sun shine, guaranteed."_

The next morning, the group was slow to get up -- though the beds weren’t quite as luxurious as those in the hotel, they were still quite comfortable...and, well, Lea at the least wasn’t looking forward to Charlotte’s dressing them up. But they were awake, and when they came downstairs, Tiana had already arrived, and she led them into the kitchens where she’d left a platter of beignets she’d brought them for breakfast.

“Mornin’, y’all,” she said, pouring them coffee. “Figured I’d come early and bring you a little somethin’ while you get ready to go.”

Lea laughed, grabbing his cup and sipping at it. “Thanks,” he said with a grin. “Man, you’re gonna spoil us, Tiana. We’re gonna go home and be so bummed we don’t get delicious food like this all the time anymore.”

“Aw, flatterer,” Tiana snorted, pouring herself a cup and watching Vanitas raid the beignet platter with a smile. “Glad you like ‘em so much, Vanitas.”

The boy blushed, withdrawing his hand from his fourth pastry and sipping at his own mug -- Tiana had made him hot cocoa instead.

Terra chuckled, sipping at his coffee and watching the kitchen door, lifting a hand to wave at Charlotte when she entered, bouncing over to Tiana and giving her a hug before turning to grab a beignet, chattering cheerily at them all the while. It was almost nice, he decided. Kind of normal, in an abnormal way. The group of them eating a quick breakfast in a kitchen, talking about nothing in particular while still in borrowed pajamas...surreal, but strangely comforting. Even if the sight of his pale silvery hair still jolted him every time he caught a glimpse of it.

After they finished breakfast, Charlotte pulled them back upstairs, handing the boys the clothes she’d picked the previous evening while escorting Relena back to her room -- and closet -- promising that it wouldn’t take too long. The three changed quickly, relieved that the style of clothing didn’t seem to be too unusual. Dark brown pants and dress shirts for all three of them, with a black vest and dark red-orange tie for Terra, and suspenders for the other two. Vanitas’s pants seemed shorter than the two adults’, rolled up at the cuffs, and he rolled his sleeves up to match, fussing aimlessly with the grey plaid newsboy cap Charlotte had given him. Lea somehow managed to only get one side of his suspenders up, the other dangling at his leg from where it was attached to his belt, and over that he put his signature bandana.

“Really?” Terra asked him, managing -- to his surprise once again -- to tie his tie properly, tucking it into his vest and eyeing Lea with a bemused expression. Lea just shrugged, grinning back.

“Hey, it’s my signature thing,” he replied, knotting the scarf. “And it’s not too weird compared to the coats, so.”

Vanitas snorted, finally putting the hat on and pushing it down a little over his unruly hair. “Your hair’s weird enough for all of us,” he said dryly. “Don’t see many people around here with pepper-red hair like that.”

“You hush,” Lea said with a snort, leaning out of the door to their room. “Wonder how bitchy Relena’s gonna get about fighting in a dress?”

His answer was a heeled ankle boot thrown at his head, followed by the blonde herself in a pale yellow dress, short-sleeved and knee-length with a sailor-style collar and a belt. “If I can fight in heels and an ankle length coat, I can fight in a damn dress, Lea,” she snapped, retrieving her shoe and putting it on, lacing it up as she leaned against the wall. “Besides, I’ve worn worse than this back home and leapt around rooftops. I can handle this.” She grinned sideways at him. “You want a demonstration, Lea, _darling_ ~?”

“Uh-- no,” Lea said awkwardly, grinning in a way that said he was probably screaming on the inside. “I’m good. You can, uh, give the Heartless that demo. We cool?”

Relena laughed. “We’re cool,” she said, patting his face sarcastically. “Now come on, you wuss, let’s go visit the bayou.”

Charlotte stifled a giggle, shooing them downstairs to meet Tiana and coming down after them, leading them to their garage and telling the driver to take them to wherever Tiana wanted to go. Not being from the world, they didn’t recognize the directions Tiana gave him, and simply sat back in the fancy black car and watched the city go by.

* * *

They arrived at the edge of the bayou, pulling from paved road to dirt to grass, and they’re parked at the very edge of the treeline, nothing but darkness and swampland before them. A wooden bridge sits between a pair of trees, disappearing into the shade, and that’s the direction Tiana heads, making the driver promise to wait for them as they make their way into the bayou.

After a while, as they walk, Tiana stops and looks around, holding up a hand. “Hang on,” she says. “Got a friend around here that’ll want to tag along, I think. Haven’t seen ‘im in a little while, anyway.” She stepped forward, balancing neatly on the edge of the bridge. “Louis! Looouis! I know you’re out here! C’mon, it’s alright!”

“Tiana, hey!” A voice called cheerily, and they all saw a green streak slicing through the water. Moments later they all jumped in surprise as a huge alligator broke the surface, grinning widely. “How you doin’?! Haven’t seen you in ages! Need me to play for you again?” He paused, glancing behind her. “Who’re your friends? They don’t look familiar.”

Tiana smiled, reaching out to pat the gator’s snout. “This here’s Terra and his friends. We’re all headin’ out to Mama Odie’s again, some suspicious stuff’s been goin’ on lately, and better safe than sorry. Don’t want my customers in danger.” She smiled. “And you know you can always just slide on up the river and pop in anytime. They’re all used to you at the restaurant by now.”

“Aww, _yeah_ ,” Louis said happily. “Tell ‘em it’s nice to meet ‘em, y’hear?”

Terra chuckled. “It’s nice to meet you too, Louis,” he said, and both the gator and Tiana looked surprised.

“You understand him?” Tiana asked, bewildered. “Naveen an’ I only can ‘cause of what happened, so--” She paused, shaking her head. “You really ain’t from around here,” she said finally. “Guess I shouldn’t be too surprised.”

Lea laughed. “Yeah, it’s...we’re special like that,” he said, and waved at Louis. “Hey there, Louis. I’m Lea. The lady’s Relena and the kid’s Vanitas.”

Louis waved with one of his small arms, sliding back into the water. “Well, if you’re headed to Mama Odie’s, I’ll tag along!” He said. “Been meaning to ask her about the funny-lookin’ animals hangin’ around the bayou lately, anyway.”

“Funny-looking--” Terra blinked. “Louis, do they, uh...do they look like...do they have yellow eyes, and some of them have a symbol on them that kind of looks like this?” He traced the Heartless symbol in the air with a finger, and Louis nodded.

“Yeah!” He said, surprised. “Little crawly ants with yellow eyes, and some funny-lookin’ gators that wouldn’t even talk to me, and a lot of other stuff. They had that shape on ‘em.”

Terra nodded. “Those things are called Heartless, Louis,” he explained. “They’re why we’re here. They’re dangerous, and it’s our job to take care of ‘em.”

“Ooooohhh,” he said, sounding interested. “Hot diggity. That’s pretty swell of you, Terra!” He laughed. “Well, there’s a lot of ‘em around the bayou, lately, so it’s a good thing you tagged along with Tiana!”

Terra smiled slightly. “Yeah,” he agreed. “It is.”

The group continued across the bridges and swathes of land in between rivers and patches of swamp underneath the trees of the bayou, the thick canopy blocking much of the sun and dangling thick drapes of ivy and leaves almost touching the moss-coated water. Frogs and snakes and other animals were brave enough to appear around them, watching curiously, and a little group of fireflies seemed to have decided to follow them around, a constellation of flickering stars buzzing around their heads and talking in low voices, cheery and bright.

Louis swam beside them, parting the moss on the water and nudging lilypads out of the way, at some point rolling onto his back and producing a little trumpet from somewhere, playing a little tune as they walked, Tiana humming along.

As they passed another chunk of grassy, muddy land, trekking across it to the next wooden pathway in the distance, Terra stopped -- and as he’d sensed, only moments later the familiar pools of Darkness opened up around them, an almost endless parade Heartless crawling up from within them. Shadows, Soldiers, Crescendos, Emerald Blues, Search Ghosts, Creeper Plants, the Grinning Gator Heartless, and odd new Emblem Heartless that looked like walking trumpets.

Terra immediately summoned his Keyblade, the others following suit, and he turned to Tiana and Louis. “Get back,” he said immediately, gesturing, and Tiana nodded, backing up and letting Louis curl around her protectively, baring his teeth at the Heartless.

Vanitas was the first to move, looking almost relieved as his borrowed boots slapped against the mud, leaping into the fray with a shout and slicing several of the Shadows in half with his first swing, spinning to chase after one of the Gators. Terra had a feeling this was a blessing for Vanitas, being able to fight; the battlefield seemed to be the only place where he was truly comfortable, and while that was sad...he was just glad to see Vanitas smiling, in a way.

Terra charged after him, swinging his Keyblade in a wide arc and slashing at one of the Creeper Plants, kicking it out of where it had dug into the ground and knocking it into a few Soldiers. Lea went after the Emerald Blues, batting them out of the air and ducking past their Aero spells, knocking some of them towards the others so they could finish the job. He gestured at an attacking Crescendo, setting it aflame, and summoned a chakram to throw with his free hand at a Gator that was coming up behind Relena.

For her part, Relena was darting among the Heartless, calling down lighting around her as she threw her knives, directing the thunder at wherever they hit. She threw a salute at Lea when he took out the Gator and tore off towards him, vaulting over his shoulders in a front flip and stabbing a pair of knives into the head of the Search Ghost in front of him.

They kept fighting, cutting their way through all the Heartless as they kept spawning, but they just kept coming. It was as if whoever was sending them had gathered all the Heartless lurking on the world and sent them directly to the Keybearers in a wave that simply wouldn’t let up. For each one they took down, another took its place, and soon even Terra was tiring, gasping for breath and feeling sweat plaster his hair and collar to his skin.

“What do we do, boss?” Relena managed, back to back with Lea amid a group of Wight Knights that had appeared and a pair of Gators. “There’s no _end_ to them!”

Terra glanced at the two of them and to Vanitas, who at some point had summoned a few Vile Phials to keep the group healed and a Hareraiser to aid him in battle. He looked exhausted, however, pale and sweating as well, hands trembling on his Keyblade. He glanced back at Terra and straightened slightly, shifting position and trying to make himself look like he could keep fighting.

It was almost sad, honestly, Terra thought. What had happened to him that made Vanitas so desperate to look strong and unshakeable? It wasn’t a pleasant thought. But not one he could think about too hard right now, in the middle of this fight.

He hefted his Keyblade, wincing at his sore hands. “I--” He began. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But we have to keep fightin’, long as we can.” If he had to do something reckless to keep the others safe, he would.

Thankfully, though, he didn’t have to. He caught a glimpse of someone on the bridge, a small figure, and a hand lifted -- “Get outta my bayou, ya little monsters!” -- and a burst of light lit up the area, bright and blinding and causing all of them to throw their hands over their eyes.

When it cleared, all the Heartless were gone. Terra’s eyes widened as he straightened up and Lea’s jaw dropped, and Tiana smiled. “Mama Odie!” She called, Louis uncurling to let her cross the small island to the old woman in white that had released the light spell. “You have great timin’!”

Lea let out a sigh and fell back, sitting down and dismissing his Keyblade. “That was close,” he muttered, letting Relena lean on him. Terra turned, looking around for Vanitas and finding him on the ground, curled in on himself with his hands pressed to his eyes.

“Vanitas!” He called, concerned, running over and kneeling to check on him. “You okay? What’s wrong?”

Vanitas let out a hiss. “The light spell, idiot,” he muttered, voice strained. “I can’t _see_. Everything stings and I can’t _see_.”

“Oh,” Terra said quietly, and then without preamble picked Vanitas up and carried him to join the others, who had pried themselves up and followed Tiana, who had in turn followed Mama Odie back to her house tucked in the crook of a huge old tree. Louis came as well, but plopped himself down at the base of the tree to wait as the others went up.

Mama Odie led them into her house -- a huge room filled with hanging bottles and herbs and spices, an oddly smelling bathtub in one corner, shelves upon shelves of bottles and jars and other odds and ends, and a wicker chair nestled between two branches extending up from the floor, which Mama hopped into and steepled her fingers, turning to look at the group.

“Never thought I’d see the day when three Keybearers waltzed themselves right onto my doorstep,” she said, amused. “Take it y’all came ‘cause of the Heartless?”

Terra nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, and the old woman snorted. “We’re also looking for...for some people. Are we the first Keybearers that have been to New Orleans?”

“Yep,” Mama Odie said, and Terra’s face fell. “Sorry, handsome. Wherever your friends are, they ain’t here.” She clucked. “You better put that boy down, though, let ‘im recover on his own.”

Terra blinked, putting Vanitas back down and letting him limp over to a crate and sit down, rubbing at his eyes. “Sorry, boy,” Mama Odie said with had chuckle. “Didn’t know what you were. Better be more careful, y’hear?”

“I hear,” Vanitas grumbled. “You aren’t the first person to mess me up, anyway.”

Mama Odie sighed. “Y’all take good care of that boy,” she said, directing her comment to Terra. “He needs plenty of TLC.”

“I will,” Terra agreed readily, but paused, reddening, when Mama Odie seemed to lean in and study him intently -- it was hard to tell through her dark tinted glasses. “Um--”

“You are one hell of a mess, handsome,” she said bluntly, and he flinched. “Do you even remember who you are under all those names? You even taken a second to sit down and breathe, or have you been runnin’ your dang self ragged ‘cause you’re runnin’ from what you gotta think about?”

“I, uh--” Terra began, coloring slightly, but Mama Odie just snorted.

“Nevermind,” she said with a flap of her hand. “Get the feelin’ you ain’t gonna listen to my perfectly good advice. Better keep it in mind, though, handsome, ‘cause it’s gonna bite you if you don’t.”

She glanced at Lea and Relena, who looked at each other nervously, unsure of what the old woman was going to say, and cackled at their expressions. “Ain’t got nothin’ to say to you two, red, girlie,” she said with a snort. “Red, you got yourself pretty well set up, I’m impressed. You got your promise and you’re stickin’ to it. Just remember to take care of yourself, too.”

Lea grinned weakly, and Relena inched backwards, but Mama Odie wasn’t quite finished with her yet. “And _you_ , girlie. You’re on the right track, but don’t be afraid to let ‘em in, got that? It’ll be alright.”

Advice dispensed and guests made properly uncomfortable, she turned to Tiana with a clap of her hands. “Now! Miss froggy, what you come all the way out to see little ol’ me for? You need somethin’, or is this just a social call, introducin’ me to your new friends?”

Tiana laughed. “I need some help,” she explained. “Some not so welcome stuff’s been happening around the restaurant lately, an’ I thought I’d come to you to see if there’s any way you can-- dunno, help me protect it? I know I’ll be alright, but I don’t want anything happenin’ to my customers.”

“You a brave froggy,” Mama Odie said fondly. “You sure it ain’t the Heartless?” Tiana nodded, and she hopped off her chair. “Alright then, you just give me a minute or ten, an’ I’ll whip somethin’ up for y’all.”

She bustled over to the bathtub, grabbing jars and bottles as she went, dumping them haphazardly into the tub and grabbing a staff leaning against the wall, using it to stir whatever the mixture was. It smelled -- not _bad_ , but strong, and Lea covered his nose, glancing at Tiana, who shrugged and smiled apologetically.

It didn’t take long until Mama Odie was grabbing an empty jar, filling it with the mixture in the tub and bringing it over to Tiana. “You just tuck this away by the front doors, an’ no bad mojo will get into your place, miss froggy,” she said as Tiana took the jar.

“Thanks, Mama,” Tiana said with a smile. “Knew you’d be able to help out. Owe you one.”

“You sure do,” Mama Odie said with a laugh. “Some of those famous beignets of yours might do the trick. Any case, you hop along home now, y’hear? It’s dangerous to be out an’ about with the Heartless around.”

Tiana laughed, heading out of the treehouse, and Terra and the others followed; Mama Odie caught Terra before he went down last, though, and he stopped, looking a bit surprised -- and a little wary. “Um-- y-yeah?”

“You keep an eye on her, handsome,” she said. “Trouble’s brewin’. You an’ yours be careful, too. You got a long road ahead, child, and it’d do you good t’take care of your own.” He nodded and she let go of his arm. “Now get. Your friends ain’t gonna find themselves.”

Terra smiled faintly and nodded again, thanking her before following the others out. The trip back was uneventful, thankfully, and when they got to the edge of the bayou, they bid farewell to Louis -- who promised Tiana he’d swim over to her place sometime for a show -- and met the driver again.

They headed back to Charlotte’s first, where they left the driver and the car. One of the maids, the one that opened the door for them, explained that Charlotte had headed to Tiana’s restaurant to wait for her there, and Tiana thanked her before they headed off on foot.

As they approached the restaurant, Vanitas’s steps slowed. “Something’s up,” he said. “I feel Darkness, but it’s-- weird. It feels wrong. Sharper and stickier, it’s hard to--” He rubbed his cheek, making a face. “I don’t like it.”

Terra glanced at him and then frowned, hands curling into fists as he glanced at Lea and Relena, who nodded. “Tiana, stay behind us,” he said. “Just in case.”

Tiana’s expression had dropped when Vanitas had spoken and she nodded, adjusting her grip on the jar in her arms, eyes serious.

The restaurant looked the same from the outside as they approached, but even Terra could feel the chill in the air and see the shadows dancing oddly around the edges of the building. He took a breath, glancing at the others again, and summoned his Keyblade, approaching the front doors and pushing them open, the group entering the restaurant with Tiana behind them.

And, of course, what they found inside was chaos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to post this one earlier, but I got a late start writing it. Hey, at least it's posted!! Also SE please take my Heartless design ideas, please. I'm a little iffy on this chapter because it's hard to write so many Disney characters, but it's still pretty good! New clothes, Louis, fun Heartless battle shenanigans, and Mama Odie! Wheeee!
> 
> Trying to research voodoo things led me to the weirdest damn part of the internet, though, I gotta say. I couldn't find much, so I decided to be as vague as possible. That always works!
> 
> And next time: boss fiiiiight!! Possessors are my favorite things.


	20. Shadow Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now it's time for the show. Our heroes vs. the Shadow Man. And then we wrap things up in New Orleans.
> 
>  
> 
> _"I walk through the shadows with a shadowy plan, I live somewhere between night and day. I’m the Shadow Man— Facilier."_

The interior of the restaurant was completely changed when they entered; they could even see the Possessors, balls of almost gaseous Darkness, slipping into the walls and floor and chandelier, corrupting them and twisting them into different forms.

The walls went dark, black and purple with neon yellow, orange, and green streaks dripping down them like wet paint, the pillars twisting into spirals and the railings on the balconies and around the sides of the first floor turning silver and spiked like wrought-iron fences, the Heartless emblem in the designs. The floor went black and covered in strange symbols that almost looked drawn in white chalk, and the chandelier turned purple and spiked, the flames blue-black and burning high almost to the ceiling.

The plants in the room all darkened, growing wild and climbing up the pillars and across the railings beside them like untamed ivy. The tables and their lilypad candleholders remained the same, spots of light in the new darkness that corroded the room. At the far end of the hall, the dance floor had turned almost invisible, multicolored mist and shadows gathering upon it and creeping right up to the bottom of the stage.

And the stage -- the curtains had turned purple, the walls around it covered with more of the strange white symbols that seemed to move the longer you looked at them, and at the top in an arc floated five large wooden masks, their eyes glowing crimson.

And on the stage itself stood a man in purple, shadows leaking steadily from his form and pooling around him. A top hat sat jauntily on his head and a skull masked the top half of his face -- all save for his wicked grin -- and he stood with a black walking stick planted in front of him, both hands on the purple crystal at its top.

“About time you all got here,” he said with a laugh. “Not polite to keep a man _waiting_ , you know.”

Tiana’s eyes narrowed. “Facilier!” She shouted. “What did you do to my _restaurant?!_ Where are Naveen and Lottie?!”

“Your _prince_ and the white girl?” He asked, bemused, and banged his stick once against the floor, the curtains pulling back to reveal the two in question, bound head to foot in black ropy shadows. Lottie was unconscious, her eyes closed and head drooped against Naveen’s shoulder, and Naveen’s eyes widened when he saw the group, whatever he was trying to say muffled by the shadow across his mouth. “Here they are, safe and sound. You want ‘em? Come and get ‘em.”

A hand lifted from the walking stick, the other tossing it in the air and catching it at the middle of the stick itself, spinning it like a weapon. His free hand gestured grandly, more Heartless melting up from the shadows at the edges of the room and shadows beginning to flicker menacingly in the mist over the dance floor. “But my new friends ain’t gonna make it _easy_.”

“You’re working with the Heartless?” Terra demanded, summoning his Keyblade.

Facilier laughed. “Now why wouldn’t I be, boy? Unlike the old, my new friends here do whatever I want ‘em to, no strings attached -- and that’s just what I need to get my revenge on the _little missy_ behind you.” He grinned wide again, pointing the stick in his hand at Tiana. “Dragged myself right back up from the Shadowland just for _you_ , darlin’. And first order of business is makin’ sure you regret messin’ with the Shadow Man.” He grinned wide, skull on his face making it even more menacing. “And after that, my plans are right back on track.”

“But first,” he continued, lowering the stick and making a ‘come on’ gesture with his free hand. “I gotta take care of _your_ new friends. So let’s _dance_ , lady and gents.”

Terra’s eyes narrowed, but he glanced over his shoulder at Tiana. “Stay here,” he told her. “We’ll handle this. You just stay safe.”

“Right,” Tiana said, her voice implying she didn’t mean to stay out of it entirely. “Kick his sorry ass out of my restaurant, y’hear?”

Lea grinned, summoning his own Keyblade. “You got it,” he said. “I expect some more of those beignets when this is over, yeah?”

“Got it,” Tiana said with a grin. “Now get goin’.”

Conversation over and weapons in hands, the four of them leaped into battle, charging towards the dance floor and Facilier on the stage behind it. Vanitas jumped onto one of the tables, using them as platforms to leap across as the floor began to undulate like solid water.

They had to stop in the middle of the dining area as the Possessors started their assault, the twisted pillars pulling out of the ground to stab at them and the chandelier shooting its blue flames at the quartet below it.

Terra growled under his breath, twirling his Keyblade and slamming it into the ground, sending a shockwave of earth magic rippling across the floor and into the walls and pillars, interrupting the attacks. “Ignore the Possessors!” He called. “Just get to Facilier!”

“Easier said than done, boss!” Relena shouted back, backflipping over a pillar gone horizontal in its attack on her and landing on one of the tables, knives out. “Lea! Give me a lift!”

Lea glanced at her and then grinned. “You got it!” He said, leaning forward, and Relena took a running leap, bouncing off Lea’s back and somersaulting onto the balcony. He flashed her a salute and took a step back, lifting his Keyblade to block the blue fire, spinning the weapon to redirect the flames around them. “Terra, I got the chandelier! Relena and I will handle things back here, you and Vanitas get to Facilier!”

Terra glanced at him and then up at Relena, who was ducking and weaving through the attacking second-story pillars, throwing her knives at their bases and where they met the ceiling, leaving them buried in a pattern meant to conduct her lightning once she was finished. He nodded at her and she nodded back, and he glanced at Vanitas. “You heard them,” he said, and the boy grinned.

“Nice of them, letting us handle the big guy,” he said, and then lifted a hand. “Mind if I introduce him to some of my friends?”

Terra grinned back. “Go for it.”

Vanitas gestured, and a pair of Sonic Blasters flashed into being alongside four more Vile Phials -- three of which immediately flew to the others, the fourth remaining by Vanitas -- and a few Blue Sea Salts and Yellow Mustards. The pot Unversed darted off in a swarm towards Facilier, ice and lightning already spilling forth, and the two Sonic Blasters remained where they were, one joining Terra and his Phial.

“The Blasters’ll stay in seek mode,” Vanitas explained, already moving. “They’ll lock onto Heartless in the fog for you.”

Terra looked surprised for a moment; he hadn’t expected Vanitas to be able to...come up with ideas like this, but he was glad for it. “That’s awesome,” he said, nodding and dashing off after him. “Great idea.”

“Oh, stop,” Vanitas snapped, ducking to hide his pink cheeks. “Let’s just kick his ass.”

The pair of them tore into the fog, Vanitas leaping from the last table into it feet-first and Terra charging in after. It was all colors, pink and purple and green and black, thick and shadowy and hard to see through, movement all around them as they ran forward.

The Sonic Blasters chirped to life, satellites flicking left and right, the light shining from it cutting through the fog somewhat to land on the Heartless surrounding them. Soldiers, Mad Dogs, Crescendos, Search Ghosts, Wight Knights, and Grinning Gators lurked in the mist around them, and Terra and Vanitas exchanged looks, the same idea coming to them at once.

They shifted to stand back-to-back, lifting their free hands to concentrate on each other -- Terra’s Wayfinder glowing with a familiar warmth in his pocket, and Ven’s doing the same in Vanitas’s. “Gonna have to follow your lead on this, Terra,” Vanitas said, and Terra just grinned.

“Not so hard,” he promised. “Just concentrate on memories of me real hard, and you’ll know when the link kicks in.”

He’d never done it like this before, he had to admit -- the dimension links his wayfinder had enabled, memories of the connections he’d made flowing through the charm into him and granting him new abilities and a power boost...he’d always done them alone. Never before had he linked with someone linking with him, back to back.

He had a feeling it was going to be _devastating_.

Memories of Vanitas were easy to pull up now -- his coming to their rescue, the desperation in his eyes as he shouted Terra down from his panic over Aqua, the shy way he’d thanked Terra for defending him to Yen Sid, his smile at dinner as he inhaled his third beignet, his stubborn determination during their fight in the bayou -- and the Wayfinder went from warm to hot, light dancing around him and his Keyblade as the link activated.

Vanitas, too, didn’t have too hard of a time with memories of Terra (a lot of decent memories had happened in the past few days) and his own link activated, the dual activations making the light around the two of them grow twice as bright.

And then they launched themselves forward in opposite directions, Terra’s Keyblade burning with darkness and Vanitas’s glowing with golden-orange light. Vanitas leapt around, Keyblade swinging as he struck quick, fierce blow after blow, stunning his opponents and sending them drifting in the air with Gravity spells, unable to move while he tore them apart.

Terra, meanwhile, spun his Keyblade, cloaking himself in the dark light it was burning with and plowing into his group of Heartless, time seeming to slow down as he darted around them, almost unable to count his own strikes. The glow and their dual flurry of blows seemed to start to push the smoke back, and once the floor was empty, they both turned back to meet up with one another, leaping as one onto the stage and plowing forward towards Facilier, Vanitas going low while Terra went high.

Terra’s Keyblade flashed and he slammed into Facilier, five quick strikes tearing into him followed by a sixth, knocking him into the air in time for Vanitas to finish as well, raising his Keyblade and sending glowing fragments of earth bursting from the ground into the air and striking the shadow man as he fell. The glow on both their parts became so bright it was almost blinding, and they struck their last blow together in unison, dark fire and pure darkness spiraling out of their Keyblades to slam Facilier back against the wall.

The glow faded and Vanitas whooped, laughing and grinning at Terra. “That was _awesome!”_ He said. “How did we even _do_ that?!”

“The Wayfinders,” Terra explained, glancing back at where the other two were still dealing with the Possessors. “We should h--”

He was cut off by two tendrils of shadow slamming into his chest, sending him flying across the room and slamming into one of the still-moving pillars, dropping to the ground with a grunt. He levered himself up, staring at the stage where Facilier got up, shadows melting off him as his injuries disappeared, the eyes of the tiki masks above him blazing brighter.

“Nice show you put on there, boys,” he said, shadows darkening the stage and shooting up to wrap around Vanitas’s wrists, pulling him forward to hit the ground and then up to dangle him a foot off the ground by his arms. “I’m impressed. But you’re gonna have to do better than _that_ little performance. The shadows ain’t gonna go down that easy, ‘specially if you throw _more_ shadows at ‘em.” He grinned toothily, lifting his walking stick and holding it like a baseball bat. “Little shadow boy, you think you can put my darkness out with yours? _Real cute_.”

“You just a drop in the _bucket_ compared to me, boy,” he said, leaning close to Vanitas’s face, skull mask grinning right into his wide, almost frightened, golden eyes. “Now hold still.”

He swung the walking stick hard, the crystal ball on top slamming into the side of Vanitas’s head. His head snapped to the side and he let out a cry, slumping unconscious. Satisfied, Facilier dropped the stick, lifting a hand and shoving it onto -- and _into_ \-- Vanitas’s chest. Vanitas let out a soft whimper, tendrils of Darkness beginning to pull out of him and into Facilier.

 _“Vanitas!”_ Terra cried, prying himself off the floor. “Hang on!”

Facilier laughed as he began to glow, the air around him rippling with Darkness. “Ohhhh, _yeah!”_ He cried. “This is some sweet shit, little boy. Don’t you worry, I’ll use it way better’n you _ever_ could.”

He lifted his free hand as the air pulsed, grinning widely -- and then a crash interrupted everything, causing Facilier to whip around, eyes wide. _“You!”_

Tiana stood at the entrance to the kitchens -- Terra blinked, having not even noticed her move -- holding a huge metal pot, with more at her feet...and having just thrown one at one of the masks hanging above Facilier. “Don’t think I don’t know your tricks!” She snapped, stepping back and hefting the second pot, throwing it at the mask as well. “These are what’s keepin’ him from gettin’ hurt, y’all!” She called. “Take ‘em out!”

She bent and grabbed a third pot, throwing it at the mask even as the Heartless started swarming towards her, and this one broke it in half, the glow in its eyes dying. Facilier let out a cry, yanking his hand out of Vanitas and whipping around, clutching his chest. “You little--” He snarled. “You’re always messin’ with my plans! Well, that was the last time you’ll ever do that, Tiana! _Get ‘er!”_

Tiana yelped, throwing a fourth pot at the oncoming Shadows, backing into the kitchen and slamming the door behind her. Relena summoned more knives, hurriedly taking the Shadows out with a throw of them. “Lea!” She yelled. “Think now’s a good time to finish things up, don’t you?!”

“Right behind you!” Lea yelled, leaping onto a table while still trying to control the flames the chandelier was throwing at him. “Just say the word!”

Relena nodded, leaping off the balcony and landing next to him, lifting both hands. “Count of three,” she said. “One...two...”

She gestured, and the array of knives above them buried in the pillars and ceiling sparked to life, electric charge zigzagging through them, increasing in strength as it bounced from knife to knife and down to her hands where she collected the energy. At the same time, Lea spun his Keyblade in front of him, pulling the chandelier’s flames in to combine with his own, blue fire and red mixing together.

 _“Three!”_ As one, they stepped forward, Relena bringing her hands down sharply and Lea stopping the spin of his blade, gesturing forward with a forceful thrust, and fire and lighting shot forward, both elements twisting around each other in a concentrated stream of destruction pointed straight at Facilier’s remaining masks.

The two of them both gestured to the right, and the blast moved with them, tearing sideways across the wall above the stage and ripping apart the masks in explosions of red-orange fire and white-gold lightning, fragments of wood falling to the stage below.

Facilier let out a scream, staggering back as the shadows around him lessened, dropping Vanitas onto the stage and retreating into the corners. “No!” He shouted. “No, no, no!”

Terra pulled himself onto a table and lifted his Keyblade, concentrating as hard as he could -- he couldn’t do the same sort of Shotlocks he’d been able to use with his own Keyblade, but...he’d always been good at Keyblade transformations, the best out of the three of them, so maybe…

_‘Let’s finish this, Terra!’_

Just like in the Graveyard before, he could swear he heard Aqua’s voice, and he tossed his -- _her_ \-- Keyblade in the air, the weapon glowing and falling back into his hands as a bow. He was startled a moment as he caught the transformed weapon, but smiled faintly. Of course it would be a bow. He stepped back, pulling the invisible bowstring taut, no arrow of magic appearing but a crimson ethereal blade.

He grinned to himself. “This is it, Shadow Man!” He called triumphantly. “Show’s _over!”_ He let go, firing the ethereal blade, and it struck true, burying itself in the center of Facilier’s chest.

Facilier let out a scream. “No!” He roared. “Not again! That old goat _promised_ \--!” But nonetheless, he melted, dissolving into shadows and smoke and leaving only the ethereal blade and his top hat behind, the blade disappearing right after.

After Facilier disappeared, so did the possessors and other Heartless, the restaurant returning to normal. The only sign anything had happened was the toppled candle holders and rumpled tablecloths, a few knocked over chairs here and there.

Relieved, Lea and Relena sat down, leaning on each other and laughing breathlessly, while Terra returned Stormfall to normal and dismissed it, running to Vanitas. The boy was unconscious, his face white and with a purpling bruise on his temple, but he was breathing normally. Terra let out a sigh of relief before turning to Naveen and Charlotte, who were both wide-eyed and frozen despite the shadowy bonds having vanished.

“You two okay?” He asked.

Charlotte was the first to shake herself off. “Are _we_ alright?!” She yelped. “Are _y’all_ alright?! That was-- what was-- holy toledo, y’all, that was incredible! Ain’t never seen _anything_ like it, an’ Daddy puts on the best Fourth of July parties this side of New Orleans! Y’all okay?”

“We’re fine,” Terra said with a laugh, glancing at the kitchen door again as Tiana peeked out, sighing with relief and hurrying to the stage, tackling Naveen in a hug. “Vanitas is...he’s hurt, but I think he’ll be okay given a little time.”

Tiana sighed. “Thank goodness,” she said, relieved. “That was a hell of a thing. Never thought he’d come back like that, but there ya go. What’d he mean by ‘that old goat’, I wonder…?”

“Probably the guy we’re after,” Terra said with a sigh, sitting to pull Vanitas into his lap. “The one who caused all this trouble in the first place. He has a bad habit of sticking his nose into places and messing stuff up. He must’ve helped Facilier out, hoping to pull this place into Darkness.”

“He certainly sounds like trouble,” Naveen said with a frown. “Here’s hoping that he will leave us well enough alone after this.”

“He probably will,” Terra reassured them. “He doesn’t really follow through with anything once it fails him, so...since we took out Facilier, he probably won’t come back here.”

Tiana smiled. “Well, that’s good to hear,” she said. “Hope you lot take care of him before he gets anyone else into a mess like this.”

“We hope so,” Terra murmured, and something in his voice made Tiana’s smile falter, brow creasing in concern.

Charlotte picked up on the dip in mood, though, and stood, clapping her hands. “Awright!” She proclaimed. “Now that everythin’s alright, I declare we should have a party! Celebrate our friends handlin’ Facilier for us an’ savin’ me and Naveen’s behinds, an’ all that.” She grinned around her. “What d’you say, y’all?”

The others all looked at each other, and Lea gave Terra a thumbs-up. Terra laughed to himself, smiling again and turning to Charlotte. “Sounds good to me,” he said. “We could use the break after this.”

* * *

Terra and the others were led up to the loft where Tiana and Naveen stayed, the pair of them letting the group use their couches and chairs to rest for a while while dinner was prepared. Lea fell backwards onto the floor with a groan, Relena dropping on top of him, and Terra put Vanitas on the couch and sat next to him with a sigh.

It was an hour later when Vanitas woke up, moaning and clutching his head. “Ughhhh,” he mumbled. “Did we win…?”

“We won,” Terra reassured him, gently moving Vanitas’s hand away from the bruise on his temple to look at it. “How’re you feeling?”

“Like crap,” Vanitas said sourly. “Double crap, really. He destroyed my pot Unversed before we pulled off our combo attack, so.” He rubbed his head with the hand still on it. “There’s that, on top of the whole ‘he shoved his hand into my chest and tried to absorb me’ thing. Which is horrible on its own, actually.”

Lea winced from his spot on the floor. “Ow,” he said. “You sure you’re okay?”

“No,” Vanitas snapped, lying back on the couch. “Not okay. Shaky and gross and headachey, mostly, but not _okay_.”

Terra sighed, pulling Vanitas into his lap again for a hug. “You did good out there anyway,” he said with a smile. “All of you did. Couldn’t have done it without you.”

Vanitas stiffened, but then relaxed, letting his head rest on Terra’s shoulder. “It was fun,” he admitted, his voice muffled. “I liked fighting with you guys. Never fought as a team before.”

“We have, kinda?” Relena said. “Did missions as pairs mostly, but it was pretty strained most of the time. Not like this. This was…”

“Fun,” Lea supplied. “Really fun. We were _awesome._ ”

Terra grinned wider. “We were,” he agreed. “We definitely were.”

They rested together for another hour before Tiana came up to get them for dinner. She’d gone all out in thanks, and the table was laden with food. Plates of andouille sausage, dirty rice, crawfish étouffée, jambalaya, red beans and rice, fresh bread and butter, and a pitcher of iced tea all sat out for them, and the group all fell on it hungrily.

A short while after they started, conversation began to start up among the four of them, Tiana, Charlotte, and Naveen, and soon it was a cheerful party, everyone talking and laughing as they ate, even Vanitas. Tiana told them she’d set up the charm, buried the jar in one of the flowerpots up front -- that way, even if Facilier came back for a third round, he wouldn’t be able to get in the restaurant.

“Though I doubt he’ll be comin’ back for a long, long while,” she said with a laugh. “After that beatin’ y’all gave him, I have a feeling he’s too chicken to come back anytime soon.”

After the meal was over -- and Tiana brought out out a platter of hot, fresh beignets for everyone -- Charlotte produced several bags filled with clothes of all sizes.

“Y’all said yesterday there were more of you back home,” she explained. “So I stopped back at my place an’ grabbed y’all some clothes to bring back for them! My present to you for helpin’ Tia out.”

Terra smiled. “Thanks, Charlotte,” he said. “And Tiana, thanks for dinner, and-- and everything you’ve done for us, really. I’ve been to a lot of places before, helpin’ people, and this is...this is the warmest welcome I ever got.”

“Well!” Tiana said. “You clearly ain’t never been to New Orleans before. We got hospitality to spare. An’ like Lottie said, we owe you one.” She smiled at them. “You’re welcome back anytime, with any of your friends. Dinner’s on the house.”

Vanitas looked up, swallowing his mouthful of pastry. “And more beignets?” He asked, and everyone laughed.

It was with some reluctance that they left an hour later, prying themselves from the restaurant with more goodbyes and thank yous, leaving and opening a corridor to pass through back to the hotel with Charlotte’s gifts in hand.

It had sure as hell been an eventful trip, Terra decided. They may not have found Aqua and Ven, but…

Well, he liked to think it had done everyone that had come along a bit of good. Himself included.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Six page fight scene, guys. Six pages. How in the heckie am I gonna top that? I'll do my best, tbh. D-Links and Shotlocks and Command Styles are always fun. And this was super amazingly fun to write, even if I literally had no set plan for it until I was writing. They all just did whatever. Though the stuff with Vanitas did /not/ go as I'd originally planned. S'cool, though.
> 
> In any case, that's that for New Orleans!! We'll be heading to the next world at the end of chapter 21/chapter 22. I'm really excited for it.


	21. Transition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang gets back, and promptly leaves again. Time for the next mission.

When they got back, the lobby was understandably empty - it had been two days, of course, no one would be waiting for them.

“Now what?” Relena asked. “Not like you have a megaphone or an intercom system. Or Dusks, for that matter.”

Terra snorted. “No, but I'll think of something. For now, let's head down to the lab. I know Even will be there, at least, and it's a better place to hold a meeting.”

“ _Anywhere’s_ better than the meeting room at the Castle,” Lea joked. “I always thought I'd fall off those damn chairs.”

The former Nobodies laughed, shaking their heads. Though Terra hadn't been himself then, he still remembered the thrones in Where Nothing Gathers (and its ridiculous name). He’d always wondered why they'd been like that. Them again, half of what Xemnas had done didn't make sense, so he doubted he’d ever know the answer.

Checking on the oddly silent Vanitas -- still pale and recovering from Facilier’s attack, but otherwise alright enough to brush Terra off irritably -- he led the group down to the kitchen and makeshift lab.

Even was, of course, there, and so was Ienzo. They were bent over a desk Aeleus had probably carried down for them, poring over what was most likely either the retrieved research from Castle Oblivion or readouts from Even’s equipment.

“Hey, nerds!” Lea said brightly, startling the two of them, Even straightening fast enough to almost cause the papers he was looking over to scatter. “We’re back!”

“I can see that,” Even muttered in annoyance, before raising his eyebrows. “I can also see you’ve gotten some new clothes. Where are your coats?”

Relena lifted one of the bags. “In here with the rest of the new clothes our host shoved on us,” she explained chirpily. “We have stuff for everyone. All sizes, ‘cause she didn’t know what you guys looked like.”

“...Well,” Ienzo said, taking the bags -- or rather, staggering back as they were shoved into his arms. “That’s kind of her. What prompted it?”

Terra shrugged. “We kinda saved her life and dealt with a guy using the Heartless to get revenge on her and her best friend,” he explained. “It’s a bit more complicated than that, but...that’s the gist.”

“Go back to the part with the man using the Heartless,” Even said with a frown. “How did he--”

“Xehanort, obviously,” Terra replied. “Apparently the guy -- Facilier -- messed with Tiana and Charlotte -- the girls -- a while back, and the Darkness he was using ended up turnin’ against him and dragging him into it. Xehanort apparently brought him back and let him loose with the Heartless to mess things up in exchange. Facilier decided to get revenge on Tiana for what happened, and we just got lucky and ended up there at the right time to help.”

Ienzo dumped the bags on one of the counters and turned to the group. “Well, that’s lucky,” he said. “And one of them gave you these as thanks? Hm. I wonder if Sora and the others would get gifts like this.”

“Good question,” Lea said with a laugh. “I’ll have to ask next time we see him.”

Vanitas had taken the desk chair for himself as soon as Ienzo and Even had moved away, and he spoke now for the first time. “I think we just got taken pity on ‘cause we were wearing black leather in the middle of a really hot and humid city,” he joked dryly, leaning his chin on his drawn-up knees. “At least we got free food, too.”

“Free food is always welcome, I suppose,” Even noted, and then frowned. “You don’t look well, Vanitas, are you alright? Were you injured?”

“I’m f--” Vanitas tried, but Terra cut him off.

“Yeah, he was,” he said. “Facilier tried to, I dunno... _absorb_ him, or something. We stopped it, but Vanitas is still kinda shaken up, I think.”

Ienzo winced. “That doesn’t sound good,” he said, and turned to Vanitas, who looked irritated. “You should probably take some time to rest, then.”

“I don’t--” Vanitas tried, but then sighed. “Fine, fine. Can we just do the meeting thing and get it over with?”

The others chuckled, and Even turned to Terra. “How do you propose we fetch the others?” He asked. “We don’t exactly have the means we did in the Organization…”

“I was wondering the same thing,” Terra admitted. “I could probably summon Dusks if I tried, but I don’t know. And besides, we aren’t Nobodies anymore -- they might not even listen to us.”

Ienzo coughed. “I have a solution, if you’ll indulge me,” he said, and Terra grinned, nodding. Ienzo smiled back and summoned his lexicon, flipping it open and gesturing as if pulling pages out. Six pieces of paper flew out of the tome, folding themselves into the shape of birds. “Go get the others,” he told them, and made a shooing motion, and they flew out of the room. He glanced at the others. “They won’t leave them alone until they acknowledge them,” he explained. “And they’ll unfold themselves and show them the message to get down here once they do.”

“That’s actually pretty cool, Nerd Junior,” Vanitas said. “I woulda suggested sending Unversed, but that probably wouldn’t work, since they can’t talk.”

“I wouldn’t want you to anyway,” Terra admitted. “You’re still not in the best shape, summoning Unversed might make it worse.”

Vanitas blinked, and not for the first time Terra realized how unused he must be to any sort of kindness. It was saddening, but made Terra all the more resolved to give him that kindness he’d been missing.

The others made it down within the next half an hour or so, Danny the last one to arrive. After Terra explained what had happened -- not much more than what he’d told Even and Ienzo -- and Relena cheerily handed them the bags of clothes to go through. It was mostly pants in shades of grey, black, and brown and dress shirts, though there were a few sweaters as well, and a few extra dresses and women’s clothes that Relena claimed for herself.

After that, there wasn’t much to say -- Even explained that he hadn’t had another ping on the equipment yet, so there wasn’t anything they could really do until there was one. The others dispersed again, and Ienzo asked Vanitas to stay behind in order to run a test or two and make sure he was alright. Terra was...oddly flattered when the boy looked at him before agreeing, and promised him Ienzo wouldn’t hurt him. That said, Vanitas agreed, and Terra left the room as well.

* * *

They didn’t have to wait very long for the next mission -- the very next afternoon, in fact, more paper birds were sent out to bring them down to the lab. They all hurried down, most dressed in their new clothes, and Even greeted them once again without much preamble.

“The computer’s caught readings off of a new world,” he said simply, indicating the flashing red dot in a different quadrant on the grid glowing on the screen. “Very odd. It’s Darkness, of course, but there’s something strange about the world itself. I can’t quite put my finger on it; it’s as if the world’s heart is...exposed, somehow. Easier to read. I can imagine that’s why the Darkness found its way there.”

Terra frowned. “Well, that’s not good,” he said. “We’ll definitely have to go investigate. Is there anything else you can tell us, Even? What’s the world called?”

“It’s called--” Even paused, glancing back at the screen again, much to their amusement. “Sherwood Forest. That’s really all I know, besides that it seems to have innate magics to it like Halloweentown or Atlantica; form-changing magic.”

“Form-changing magic?” Danny asked. “If Halloweentown had that, why didn’t _we_ change when we went there?”

Even shrugged. “The coats,” he explained. “As our coats protected us from the Darkness and from fading, they prevented form-changing magic from affecting us. That’s why we never went to Atlantica. As an underwater world, we would have been, uh...well. Rather ill-prepared.”

“Fancy way to say we’d probably drown,” Lea muttered uncomfortably.

Even coughed. “In any case, I’d...recommend, actually, leaving the coats here for this mission. Form-changing magic tends to help you blend in far better, so...if we’re meant to be aiding the locals, for once, I’d think fitting in is more conducive to that.”

“Good point,” Terra agreed. “We’ll do that.” He turned towards the others. “Who’s coming with me this time?” He asked. “Vanitas?”

Ienzo shook his head, stepping forward and absently adjusting the sleeves of his sweater for the fifth time. “He won’t be coming,” he explained, causing the other boy to frown, though he didn’t protest. “He’s still recovering from what Facilier did; let him rest a bit.”

“Okay,” Terra agreed. “Are you coming?” He’d gotten the feeling Ienzo meant to, given his expression, and like he expected, Ienzo nodded.

“Yes,” he said. I have to admit to curiosity about what sort of world this is, given the exposed Heart and the form-changing magic. I’ve always wanted to study that sort of magic more, anyway, and what better way to do that than to experience it myself?”

Terra laughed. “Got a point there, I guess,” he said. “Who else wants to come?”

“I will,” Damien said, stepping forward with a slight smile. “I’ve-- heard of Sherwood, as a matter of fact. The name is a familiar one to me, at the very least.” He shrugged. “Perhaps my knowledge will be of use.”

That made Terra -- and Ienzo -- rather curious, but Terra, at least, had a feeling they’d find out eventually, so he didn’t ask. “That’s three, then,” he said. “Who wants to be the fourth? Lea?”

“Nah,” Lea said. “I think I’ll stick around here and keep Vanitas company.” Vanitas looked startled at that, but Lea grinned at him and the boy relaxed slightly. It made Terra smile, too -- it was good to see the others were getting along with him.

“In that case, I’ll go,” Lauriam said, slipping out of the rest of the group to approach Terra. “Relena got to have all the fun last time, and I can’t say I’m not a tad stir-crazy. There’s only so much to do here before you get horrendously bored, and I’ll freely admit I’m far past that point.”

Terra snorted. “I can’t really blame you for being bored,” he admitted. “I’ve only been back for most of a day and I’m more than ready to get out of here for a while. We can go as soon as you guys are ready, just meet me in the lobby then, okay?”

The others headed out of the lab, and those going returned to their room to grab whatever Potions and other things they still had with them before meeting Terra in the lobby. It was a bit strange, Ienzo had to admit, to be going off-world without his coat. He’d been wearing it for so long, it was odd to be without it. But he didn’t need it anymore, did he? None of them did. They had worn it to prevent themselves from fading as Nobodies, but they were no longer Nobodies. And they had nothing to fear from the Darkness, really, did they? They were already steeped in it. It was far better to go without -- the coats were a symbol of their old lives, of the Organization. Leaving them behind was a way to leave the Organization behind. Leave the last ten years in the past, and look ahead to the future.

“Shall we go?” Damien asked, glancing at the others as Lauriam approached.

Terra nodded, opening a portal. “Yeah,” he said. “Be ready, guys -- we don’t know what forms we’ll have when we get there, so brace yourself for anything. And, uh...try not to freak out too bad, I guess.”

He’d never been to a form-changing world himself, so he didn’t quite know what to expect, but...it couldn’t be that bad, could it?

They’d just have to see for themselves, he decided, as they stepped through the corridor into Sherwood Forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY THIS IS POSTING SO LATE. I didn't feel good yesterday, and I was gone most of today, so...I finished late. But here it is! I'm just glad this was a relatively short transition chapter, so I could kinda bullshit it a little...haha!
> 
> Just a friendly reminder that Damien Dulor is Luxord! Keep that in mind friends. :)
> 
> Anyway, next arc -- Sherwood Forest!! Disney's Robin Hood time. If you want to guess what animals the gang's gonna be we'll see who's right~ See you Wednesday!


	22. Welcome to Sherwood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes arrive in Sherwood -- well, Nottingham -- and after a brief pause to marvel at their transformations and meet the townsfolk, they're off to meet the Merry Men.

The area they arrived in was an open field, a massive forest stretching away to the left of them and a dirt road to the immediate right next to a fence. The road ran to the front of them and behind, and in the distance there was a small, medieval-looking village with a stone castle nearby it. It seemed rather peaceful, the afternoon edging towards evening and the air cool and pleasant.

“Nice place,” Terra noted, smiling slightly. “We should probably head into t--” He stopped himself mid-sentence, eyes widening as he turned to the others. He went pale, opening his mouth and closing it again. “Guys?” He said weakly, looking down at himself.

Yep. He was furry. The others turned to look at him and gasped, looking at each other and then down at themselves. Lauriam let out a loud, horrified swear, and Ienzo did the same only softer. To his credit, Damien just raised his eyebrows and looked bemused, but he seemed to be the only one who wasn’t freaking out.

“I’m a _rabbit!!”_ Ienzo managed, voice high. “A rabbit! I am _literally_ a bipedal rabbit! With _clothes!”_

Lauriam spun on him, stumbling slightly over his tail. “Great! _Great_ , you’re a rabbit! Look at _me!_ I’m-- what _am_ I? I can’t even tell!”

“An otter, my friend, if I’m correct,” Damien said, examining his ‘hands’. “And I seem to be some sort of bird of prey.” He flexed his ‘fingers’ -- the tips of his wings, seeming to act independently as humanlike fingers -- and chucked. “Intriguing.”

Terra managed to calm down, looking at the others’ transformations and then down at his own paws, looking up. “What am I?” He asked, reaching up to touch his ears, the appendages flicking underneath his hand. “A cat…?”

“A dog or a wolf of some kind, I think,” Ienzo said after a moment, having taken a few breaths and calmed his own initial panic. It was almost cute how small he was, his fur a sort of pale lavender-tinted grey, with a tuft of fur obscuring an eye like his bangs did as a human.

Lauriam, for his part, was an otter with pale red-brown fur -- not quite the same color as his hair, but similar. Damien was, as he’d said, a bird of prey; most likely an falcon of some kind, he had cream colored feathers similar to his hair.

Terra wasn’t sure what he looked like as a canine, but he could tell from his paws his fur was dark brown. That made him...smile, strangely. Brown like his hair was, before. He wasn’t sure why it was like that, but he wasn’t going to complain.

He tugged at his dark grey tunic, a little bewildered at the fact he was wearing clothes -- and the rest of them were as well, Lauriam and Damien clad in tunics and boots and Ienzo in simply a tunic -- before turning back to the road. “I guess we’re-- I dunno. I guess we should keep going?” He suggested. “If we’re animals here, then the rest of the people should be, too. Won’t be that bad.”

“True enough,” Ienzo agreed after a moment. “We won’t be this way forever, just as long as we’re here. It shouldn’t be too difficult to deal with it.” He turned to raise an eyebrow at Lauriam. “If you’re done, Lauriam?”

Lauriam glared at him, crossing his arms. “I’m done,” he muttered. “This is _ridiculous_ , but I’m done.”

Terra laughed quietly, gesturing for the others to follow him, and set out for the village in the distance.

It was about an hour before they arrived, dusk already beginning to set in. the villagers were still out and about, though it seemed they were all wrapping up their activities for the day. It was surreal, in a way, to see the townsfolk -- as Terra had predicted, they were all animals, dressed in either tunics or dresses, bustling about on two legs and chattering just like humans would.

As they entered the village proper, it wasn’t too long before they were noticed -- a rabbit boy in a blue tunic followed by a rabbit girl in a pink dress and a turtle in glasses about his age all scurried up to them, the boy puffing out his chest like he was pretending to be tough.

“Travelers, huh?” He said, crossing his arms and squinting at them, though the effect as more comical than anything. “What’re you doin’ in Nottingham?”

The other two nodded in agreement to the question, and Terra had a hard time not laughing -- Lauriam wasn’t as polite, and a paw came up to cover his mouth to muffle the snort. Terra swatted him and turned to the children, crouching with a smile.

“We’re just passing through,” he explained to them. “We’re, uh--”

“We’re from London,” Damien interrupted, startling the other three. For the first time, Terra realized that his accent was similar to the ones the children had, and blinked in surprise. “My name is Damien, little ones -- I am a traveling scholar, and Ienzo here is my apprentice.” He gestured at the others as he introduced them. “Sir Terra and Sir Lauriam here are my guards.”

The boy’s eyes lit up. “Are you a _knight?”_ He asked Terra excitedly. “Where’s your sword?”

Terra smiled -- this was more familiar territory, now that the introductions were past. “It’s a _magic_ sword,” he explained in a conspiratorial whisper to them, and the children’s eyes grew wide. “It comes when I need it.”

“So cool,” the boy whispered. “I’m Skippy! This is Sis, and that’s Otto.” He bounced a little. “If you’re travellers, come meet everyone else! Come on, follow me!” He bounced again, and then turned and darted off, Sis trailing off after him and Otto behind her.

Terra stood and glanced at Damien, who shrugged innocently. “I _am_ from London,” he said. “A...different one than theirs, perhaps, but it seems that it is not _entirely_ different. There is a Sherwood Forest outside of my London, so I assumed -- and correctly -- that the geography was the same on both our worlds. The history is most likely the same as well, so you’ll forgive me if I take the lead here, yes?”

“Of course,” Terra said with a grin as the started to follow the children. “You’re the expert here, Damien. We’re just your knights. We’ll follow your lead, right?” He glanced at Lauriam and Ienzo, who nodded, both bemused.

The children led them to the small church in town, tumbling through the door to greet the friar, a rotund and balding badger, who had been in conversation with a female rooster and a pair of tiny church mice perched on the altar. “Friar Tuck!” Skippy called. “We have visitors from outta town! They’re from _London!”_

The friar turned, smiling at them. “Well, welcome to Nottingham, then, strangers,” he said with a laugh. “What brings you here?”

“As one of my guards said to Skippy here,” Damien explained, “We’re passing through. We don’t have a particular destination in mind, however -- we’re actually searching for friends of ours.”

Tuck looked surprised, and then smiled. “Friends of yours, mm? We don’t get too many travellers here, but perhaps they’ve passed through.”

“Their names are Aqua and Ventus,” Damien told him. “They may be travelling together, or perhaps apart. Aqua is a young woman, and Ventus is a boy, perhaps a few years older than young Skippy here.”

The townsfolk looked between each other, and then Tuck shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid not,” he said. “We haven’t met anyone by either of those names, Damien, I’m sorry.”

“It’s quite alright,” Damien reassured them. “We’ll simply keep looking.” He glanced at Terra, and then turned back to the friar. “On a related note, however -- in addition to searching for our friends, we are...searching, you could say, for any sort of odd happenings. Though I am a scholar, we occasionally tend to handle people’s troubles when they are of the rather….uncanny sort.”

Terra hoped that Damien’s words would make sense to the townsfolk, and that if there _was_ trouble -- and he knew there was -- they’d think to tell them about it. Thankfully, Skippy was the one to respond, hopping to his feet from where he’d been sitting on a pew.

“Robin!” He said, and the others all turned to him. He reddened, but continued. “Robin said there were weird things happening in the forest lately,” he told them. “Strange creatures he’s never seen before.”

Ienzo nodded. “That’s exactly the sort of strange things we help with,” he said. “Can we talk to this Robin? We may be able to help.”

Tuck smiled. “Of course,” he said. “I’ll take you to him. But tomorrow. It’s getting late, and Robin and his men are the only ones who can navigate Sherwood in the dark. You’re welcome to stay in town tonight, of course.”

“Thank you,” Damien said with a smile, bowing slightly. “We appreciate your hospitality.”

* * *

They stayed the night in Nottingham’s inn, run by a friendly owl woman and her husband. Terra spent most of the evening after dinner telling Skippy and his siblings stories of his travels, trying to keep to the ones that the children would find more believable -- thankfully his stories of princesses and witches were more than enough, and kept them entertained until their mother came to herd them back to their house, leaving Terra with amused apologies and sincere gratitude.

The next morning, the innkeeper and her husband gave the group breakfast, and then a little later Friar Tuck and the rooster woman -- Lady Kluck, as she introduced herself with her loud voice and harsh accent -- arrived to take them to Robin.

The trip took them into the forest, following increasingly out of the way and wooded paths until the paths disappeared entirely. Terra could understand why the friar had warned them not to enter the forest at night -- the massive trees and uneven ground full of dips and hills, the thick underbrush and canopy would turn into a maze in the dark, disorienting and blinding almost anyone who didn’t know the place well. It struck him that it was perhaps a greener, more vibrant Castle Oblivion in a way, and a glance at Lauriam's uncomfortable expression made him certain the other man realized the same thing.

At some point, Terra had to pick Ienzo up, the boy’s rabbit form proving to be small and easy to tangle up in the undergrowth. Ienzo huffed in annoyance but accepted it, climbing onto Terra’s back to ride in a slightly more dignified fashion.

Eventually, they paused at a voice that seemed to echo from up in a tree -- which tree, Terra couldn’t possibly say. “Who goes there?” It asked, tone half serious and half amused, which told him the speaker knew exactly who was there.

“It’s us, Robin, you brat,” Tuck scolded with a laugh. “We’ve brought you some guests. Seems they know a thing or two about the creatures you’ve been seeing.”

“Do they now?” The voice asked, and with a rustle, the speaker landed before them, brushing off his green tunic and grinning at them, a curious look in his eyes. He was a fox, fur bright red, with a sword at his hip, a quiver of arrows and a bow on his back, and a green cap perched on his head between his ears. “Interesting! Come on now, all of you, let’s head back to camp and we can talk.”

He led them through the forest a short way, hopping down a short hill and leading them through some more trees into a clearing scattered with rocks, a large tree in the middle of it. The clearing was filled with an obvious well-tended camp, and the people in it looked up when they entered. One of them, a female fox in a plain pink dress, hopped to her feet with a smile. “Lady Kluck!” She said, hurrying over to hug the other woman. “It’s good to see you!”

“Marian, dear, it’s good to see you, too!” Kluck said, hugging back. “How have you been? Has that rascal been taking good care of you?”

Marian laughed. “Yes, he has,” she said, and then turned to Robin. “Who are the others?” She asked, curious.

“Tuck says they know about the creatures,” Robin explained, and the others in the camp perked up at that. He led the group to the rocks, and logs, where they all sat down, and he tilted his head at Terra and the others. “Suppose we should get the introductions out of the way, first, right?” He said with a chuckle.”I’m Robin. Robin Hood -- you might’ve heard of me?” He asked, grinning mischievously, and Damien nodded, which made his grin widen. “Fantastic. Any case, these are my men -- well, my men and Marian.” The woman laughed, covering her mouth, and nodding in greeting.

“That’s Little John,” he said, indicating the huge bear that was leaning against the tree, who waved with a grin. “That’s Will -- Will Scarlet,” he continued, pointing to a rather scruffy brown cat sitting on one of the logs with a frown on his face. Will glanced up, looking a little irritated, but muttered a hello. “He’s a bit grumpy most days,” Robin teased. “Cut him a little slack. In any case, you know Tuck and Kluck, and this is Nasir.” The last member of the group, a dark-feathered eagle, nodded at them, lifting a hand -- well, wing -- in greeting.

“It’s a pleasure,” Damien said. “My name is Damien, and this is Terra, Lauriam, and Ienzo.” He glanced at the others, then gestured at Terra. “While I am the leader of the little group, Terra is the expert in the creatures you’ve been seeing, so I’ll let him continue from here.”

“Thanks,” Terrra said with a faint smile. “So, uh-- the creatures. I’m right in guessin’ they look like shadows with yellow eyes? Or some of ‘em, at least. And some of ‘em have this symbol on them somewhere?” He leaned down and used a finger to draw the Heartless emblem in the dirt.

Robin and his men leaned over to look at the sketch, and Will nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “That’s on some of ‘em. They don’t die when you poke ‘em with a sword, either. Or they do, but they come right back.”

“Yeah,” Terra said. “The Heartless -- that’s what they’re called -- are kinda hard to kill. You can take ‘em out with normal weapons, but the only thing that can really destroy them for good is a weapon called a Keyblade.” He smiled faintly. “I happen to have one. That’s why we’re travelin’ to hunt them.”

Little John raised an eyebrow. “If you’ve got this Keyblade whatchamacallit thing, where is it?” He asked curiously. “You’re not carryin’ anything.”

“Oh,” Terra said with a wider grin, summoning Stormfall. “Here it is. It’s...kind of magic.”

Marian gasped softly, but the boys all looked more impressed than surprised. “Magic, huh?” Robin said. “Guess it fits right in around here. Sherwood has magic of its own. You have t’be careful around here, respect the forest, else it’ll, y’know. Get a bit testy.” He laughed. “A testy Sherwood’s not one you wanna deal with.”

“You seem to be alright, though,” Lauriam noted. “I take it either you treat the place with no small amount of respect, or it just likes you.”

Little John laughed. “How ‘bout both?” He suggested with a grin. “You wanna tell ‘em the rest, Rob?”

Robin hesitated a moment, and then nodded, leaning forward. “Well, ‘til now we didn’t know what the creatures -- uh, the Heartless -- were, but...we sure knew what they wanted,” he began. “We’ve been chasing ‘em off from it for a week or so now, but they keep coming back. I was beginning to worry a little ‘til you guys showed up.”

Terra blinked, dismissing Stormfall and leaning forward. “What are they after?” He asked. He had a feeling it had something to do with the ‘exposed Heart’ Even had mentioned, but he definitely wanted to hear what Robin would call it.

“The Heart of the Forest,” Robin explained solemnly. “They’ve been trying to get to it since they showed up. I wouldn’t have worried too much if they weren’t after that, but they are, and that’s why I’m concerned.”

Ienzo blinked. “The Heart of the Forest?” He asked curiously.

Robin just nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s...well, self-explanatory, I guess. It’s Sherwood’s heart, and these monsters are tryin’ to get their claws on it. If they do, it would be…” he shook his head and leaned forward himself, clasping his paws in his lap and looking at the others intently.

“Will you help us protect the Heart?” He asked solemnly.

Though, Terra reflected, it wasn’t like their answer wasn’t obvious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again a bit of a late chapter, but it's here! If anyone knows where Nasir came from and what I'm referencing I'll probably love you forever. It's an old thing (80s) so IDK if anyone will, but...it's okay! I'll explain it in a bit more detail next chapter when I go into a bit more of the references. 
> 
> I really love the transfomations, holy crow. Congrats to Fangirl_Shenanigans for guessing Ienzo and Terra! Not really certain where Damien and Lauriam's came from, but I love them all the same. Otters are precious.
> 
> As a bonus --
> 
>  
> 
> [here is a link to a picture I drew of the gang's Sherwood forms.](https://67.media.tumblr.com/3b39f5c94d35f6e858b6cafee055723d/tumblr_ocscah3iqe1rjqywoo1_1280.jpg)


	23. Heart of the Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group is shown the Heart of the Forest, but of course, things escalate quickly.

“Of course we will,” Terra said with a smile, and the others all nodded. “That’s what we’re here to do.”

Robin smiled back, standing. “Thanks,” he said. “We’re glad to have the help, especially from people who know what we’re dealing with. Let me show you the Heart -- after all, if you’re helping us protect it, you should see where it is.”

He glanced at the others, and Little John grinned, making a shooing gesture. “We’ll keep an eye on things around here, Rob. You go on.” 

“If you say so,” Robin teased, but hopped over the log he’d been sitting on, gesturing for Terra and the others to follow him.

It was thankfully easy to follow Robin’s bright red tail as he led them through the forest in what seemed like no discernable direction, weaving this way and that around trees and through gullies, occasionally warning them about low-hanging branches or thorny underbrush. Eventually, the group got to a large lake, the forest surrounding it. There was a small dock and a boat tied to it down the gentle slope a short ways, and across the lake they could see a cave, the lake flowing into it.

“I imagine it’s in there, then?” Lauriam said, pointing at the cave as they headed to the boat. Thankfully it was a large enough rowboat for all of them, though Ienzo had to climb onto Terra’s shoulders again, and Robin and Lauriam rowed them across and into the cave.

The water ended a few yards into the cave and Robin hopped out onto the stony cave floor, the others following suit and helping him pull the boat partway ashore. That done, he led them further into the cave and around a bend and into a narrow corridor that opened up into a large, round cavern.

On the opposite side of the cavern was the Heart. 

Like most Hearts of worlds, it was a door, half as tall as the ceiling and made of dark wood, twisting, spiraling designs on it both carved and in dark-colored ink. Unlike most Doors, though, this one was open a crack, a few inches enough to show through into the space behind it. Not much was visible save for a faint, shimmery glow that bathed the cavern in dim blue light and a sliver of faint colors -- silver, blue, pale yellow --beyond the door itself.

“Oh…” Terra said quietly, awed. “It’s...I’ve never seen one like this.” 

Robin nodded, his voice soft in respect. “It’s what makes Sherwood what it is,” he explained. “The magic that leaks out of the door gives the forest a life of its own. Without it...I don’t know _what_ would happen. I just know it would be bad.”

“Understandable,” Lauriam said, glancing at the door again almost...well, it was hard to read his expression, but whatever Terra saw in it was enough for him to reach out and pull the other man a few steps back. He remembered the pink-haired man’s interest in the Keyblades, and...he knew that Lauriam wouldn’t do anything foolish, but still, he was concerned.

Lauriam seemed to recognize the concern and sighed, giving Terra a lopsided smile. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I learned my lesson in Castle Oblivion. I won’t do anything foolish; I was simply…” He hesitated, something unreadable in his eyes. “Curious.”

“Alright,” Terra said with a smile in return. “Just don’t get too close. Curiosity killed the cat, they say.”

Lauriam chuckled. “Yes, but satisfaction brought it back,” he added. Terra snorted, and with a final glance around the cavern to make sure there were no Heartless lurking, the five of them returned to the boat, rowing back to the docks and heading through the forest back to the camp.

“There they are!” Little John said brightly, waving a paw at the group as they arrived in the clearing. “Welcome back, Rob. Anything especially interesting happen?”

Robin laughed. “Not a thing,” he said. “But then, with the way things have been lately, that’s probably a good thing.”

The group chuckled, moving around the campfire to sit on the logs surrounding it. Marian had been cooking lunch, it seemed, a hearty-smelling stew in a pot over the fire, and was fetching bowls from one of the baskets and chests that sat clustered beneath one of the trees in the clearing.

It wasn’t until after they’d eaten that something happened, though.

As Marian was putting the bowls and things away, Heartless melted up from the ground in the clearing, quickly surrounding everyone even as Terra ad the other summoned their weapons and the Merry Men drew swords, Robin snatching up his bow and leaping in front of Marian.

There were a lot of them, Terra noticed with some concern -- Shadows, Soldiers, Creeper Plants, Crescendos, Bouncywilds and Powerwilds, Blue Rhapsodies and Red Nocturnes, Bandits, Rabid Dogs, and strange Heartless he’d never seen before that looked like bags filled with coins and jewels.

“I’ve never _seen_ this many!” Will said, teeth bared in a snarl as he swung his sword at an approaching Shadow, dissolving it. “Are they here because of you lot?!”

Ienzo shook his head, hopping onto one of the logs and trying to steady his lexicon -- which was almost as big as he was, while he was in this form. “We haven’t been here near long enough,” he said firmly. “This isn’t _us_.”

“Right indeed, boy,” a voice said, and some of the Heartless parted to let someone through -- a weasel, his pointed face twisted into an irritated expression and his fur a washed-out dishwater yellow. “I’m not here for _you_ , whoever you are.”

Robin grinned toothily, pointing his bow at the newcomer. “So you’re the one behind the Heartless. Good to know! Now, you’re going to tell us who you are, yes? And why you’re after little old me?” He chuckled. “I mean, it can’t be for the bounty, can it? I thought that foolishness stopped ages ago.”

The weasel almost snarled, startling the others in his rage. “You-- you _insolent--_ ” He sputtered. “You don’t know who I am?! I am _Sir Guy of Gisburne!_ And you will regret your misdeeds, Robin Hood!”

The Merry Men exchanged looks, and Will stifled a snort. Robin grinned, bemused. “Doesn’t ring a bell, sorry to say,” he said with a laugh. “But yes, yes, I’ll regret my thieving ways, et cetera et cetera. I’ve heard it before, my friend. More times than I care to count. So let’s see what exactly you plan to do.”

“Oh, you’ll see, all right!” Gisburne snapped. “Get them!”

The Heartless surged forward, and Terra leaped to meet them. “Stay behind us!” He told Robin and the others. “And be careful!”

Ienzo quickly cast Protega on all of the fighters before turning to the enemy -- he was careful not to cast Fire, as they were in a forest, but the rest of his repertoire was available, and magic crackled across the clearing in time with the swing of Terra’s Keyblade and Lauriam's scythe. Damien’s cards sliced through Heartless as well, the gambler slower than the others due to his awkward, feathered ‘hands’. 

They fought fiercely, and the Heartless fell by the dozens -- almost _too_ easily, Terra realized, and he spun to warn Robin even as Marian let out a scream, a Gargoyle snatching her up and flying off, wings beating against the air as he disappeared into the green.

“Marian!” Robin shouted, already running after her, the other Merry Men close behind. Terra whipped around to see Gisburne smirking, a corridor appearing behind him.

“Catch me if you can, interlopers,” he snapped out smugly, backing into it. “You’ll be too late if I have a say in it -- Robin Hood will _fall_.”

Terra growled. “And if we have a say, you’ll be the one to fall!” He shouted back, but Gisburne was gone.

“He’s likely headed to the Heart,” Ienzo said. “Come on, we have to hurry!” Terra nodded briefly, grabbing the smaller boy and throwing him onto his shoulder, tearing off through the woods after Robin and the others, Damien and Lauriam close behind.

It took them a while to get to the lake that was in front of the cave, without a guide, but the managed to get there. However, the boat was gone -- already on the other side -- and they had to stop there for a moment.

“Now what?” Lauriam asked, frustrated, but Damien smiled faintly.

“I have an idea,” he said, summoning a single card and tossing it into the air, the rectangle falling flat on the ground and growing until it could conceivably fit four of them. “This should suffice, I imagine?” He said. “It will hold us.”

“I certainly hope so,” Lauriam muttered, but he and the others stepped onto the makeshift transport, and with a gesture, Damien propelled it across the lake. They stumbled off it onto the shore moments later, shaking their heads. 

“Never again,” Ienzo muttered, and Damien chuckled. But he grew serious again, and the quartet hurried off to the cavern with the Door, where they knew the others would be.

“--the Sheriff!” They heard as they entered, Gisburne standing beside the door with Marian behind him, her upper arm gripped in one paw and a sword in the other. Robin in the others all faced him, swords and bow drawn, and a group of Heartless were between the two groups. “You lot had him deposed via trickery and falsehood!” Gisburne continued, enraged. “Him and King John! I’ll see you hanged for your crimes, once I prove you’re naught but fools and liars and thieves!”

Robin growled faintly, paw gripping the feathered end of his nocked arrow tighter. “Never said we weren’t thieves, though that’s _such_ a naughty word,” he said, his cheer noticeably strained. “What we aren’t are liars, though -- King John was the cruel one, a fool and an immature child throwing a tantrum! And the Sheriff was a greedy fool as well! Your loyalty’s _wasted_ , Gisburne! There’s nothing to prove and nothing to fight for, so let her go and leave the forest!”

“Shut up!” Gisburne roared. “You know nothing, outlaw! Nothing!” He raised his blade, pointing it at the Door to the Heart. “I’ll destroy your precious forest! Burn it to the ground! With these creatures, I’ll take everything you hold dear, Robin Hood! You and your Merry Men will be no more!”

He made as if to swing the sword down to strike at the door, but Marian wrenched her arm free with his distraction, slapping him hard across the face and darting for safety. Once she was away, Robin loosed his arrow and it sailed across the room, striking Gisburne’s wrist and sending his sword skittering across the cavern floor.

Gisburne let out a wordless howl of rage, diving for his sword and gesturing viciously with a hand, causing the quiet and still Heartless to burst to life, charging Robin and the others.

Terra leaped forward into the fray followed by the others, slashing at the Heartless, and Terra turned to look at Robin. “Get to Gisburne!” He told the fox. “We’ll handle the Heartless!”

“Right,” Robin said with a grin. “You three help Terra!” The other Merry Men nodded and leapt into the fight with the others, while Robin slung his bow onto his back and drew his own blade, sliding across the cavern towards Gisburne and clashing with him, the sound of steel on steel ringing out in the air.

Terra couldn’t follow both the duel and his own fight, so he focused solely on the Heartless, trusting that Robin would pull through. There were a lot of them, but somehow different -- scattered, almost. More violent, more animal. Much less organized than he would expect.

“He’s losing control,” Ienzo shouted, casting a Thundaga that shattered a group of Red Nocturnes into shadow and dust. “Keep an eye out, Terra, things will get dangerous fast!”

And so they did -- Terra heard a shout and turned, slicing through a Powerwild to see Gisburne fall, a paw pressed to his side, and Robin’s sword at his neck.

“No!” Gisburne snarled, desperate and furious. “Kill them! Kill them all!”

The Heartless didn’t seem to respond, and the weasel’s voice rose further. “I said kill them! Didn’t you hear me?! Stupid beasts, do as I command!”

No response at first, but then...the Heartless did move, but not to attack. Instead, they all seemed to warm together, clumping and climbing over each other as the pile of darkness and shadows grew, features forming from the Heartless melting into each other...claws, scales, a tail and a fanged snout, horns...and wings. 

A dragon, painted multicolor like a child’s abstract painting, a rainbow rippling across its black body and the Heartless sigil large across its chest, loomed above them and roared, purple fire sparking in its jaws.

“Oh, hell,” Lauriam managed, staring up at it. “This is going to be fun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. IRL drama, etc etc, and I started Fall semester, so...I had a lot of shit to get together. But here I am! Updated schedule, too, so I have more time between chapters to get them done.
> 
> It's not my best work, but here we go! Boss fight time next chapter! See you Friday!
> 
> (As promised, quick explanation -- _Robin of Sherwood,_ a BBC show from the 1980s with Michael Praed and Judi Trott, among others. It's my mom's all time favorite TV show, and I've recently watched s1 with her. It's very good, I recommend it! Cheesy and a bit dated, but really good. Nasir is from the show, and I'm basing my versions of Will and Guy on the show, too.)


	24. Dragon and Guardian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for the requisite fight scene, and after that, we meet the Guardian of the Heart, who has wisdom to share. And thus, they leave Sherwood.
> 
>  _"...Nothing is forgotten. Nothing is_ ever _forgotten."_

The dragon roared loudly, its neck and tail thrashing in the now-cramped cave, and the group all dove for cover. “We need to get it out of the caverns!” Terra shouted to the others. “We can’t fight it in here!”

“Leave it to me,” Lauriam called back, diving between the dragon’s legs and taking off at a run out of the cavern. Terra swore under his breath, concerned, but he’d have to trust Lauriam to handle this -- he turned to Robin.

“There might be more Heartless coming,” he said. “Keep them away from the Heart, and we’ll handle the big one.”

Robin saluted him and drew another arrow from the quiver, kicking his sword over to Marian, who picked it up. “Got it,” he said with a grin. “You can count on us. Go slay yourselves a dragon.”

That said, there was a faint rumble, and they could see, suddenly, what looked like vines and roots shooting through the tunnel they’d come through and wrapping around the dragon, dragging it outside. Terra exchanged a look with Damien and Ienzo, and they chased after it, watching the roots throw the dragon into the lake -- and then they looked around. Lauriam stood on the edge of the water, looking strained but determined...and the forest had come alive. The branches rustled, the roots of the trees lashed like whips, and Ienzo could smell Lauriam’s magic -- cherry blossoms and roses -- in the air almost thick enough to choke him.

“I’ll keep it occupied,” he managed, breathing heavily with exertion. “Kill it _quick_.” He turned back to the dragon, lifting itself out of the water, and focused his attention on controlling the trees around him, using the vines and willow branches and roots to hold the thing down.

“Remind me never to anger our rose-haired friend,” Damien noted with some amusement, enlarging some of his cards to act as shields for himself, Ienzo, and Lauriam. Terra just snorted, bouncing off one of the rocks at the mouth of the cave and leaping onto the dragon’s back. He’d fought Unversed this big before, after all -- this wasn’t anything _new_. Well, okay, the dragon part was new, but still. The size wasn’t, and that was the important part.

Ienzo chuckled. “Well, I’ve been there and done that, and I can safely say it’s not something anyone should plan to do,” he replied to Damien with a wry smile -- Castle Oblivion had been an adventure in double-crossing, after all, hadn’t it? -- and steadied his footing, casting Protega and Hastega on their reckless Keybearer. Terra would need the protection, he knew that much. He had far too straightforward a combat style not to.

In the meantime, of course, he’d act as support -- as always. Careful not to use any fire spells, he focused on ice and thunder; thunder in particular seemed useful, as the dragon Heartless was still half-submerged in water. Aiming different places kept it distracted enough for Terra to take care of things without being knocked off, and Damien’s cards were able to redirect the magic like mirrors to cause even more confusion.

Lauriam was impressive; that much any of the others had to admit. Perhaps it was because they were simply in his element, or perhaps the magic of Sherwood was augmenting his own, but either way, the roots and vines held fast, even as sweat poured down Lauriam’s face. Damien let out a hiss -- none of them had ethers, and he could tell both he and Ienzo were flagging. “Terra, _do_ hurry and end this!” He called. “Our mages will need to fold soon!”

“I hear you!” Terra yelled back, adjusting his grip on his Keyblade. He took off at a run up the dragon’s back towards its head, but nearly skidded to a halt when it turned, mouth full of dark fire. He brought his keyblade up horizontally to defend himself, a shimmering purple barrier flickering around it to deflect the fire. _Aqua again?_ He thought. _It’s good to know she’s with me...even now._

The dragon seemed frozen for a moment as it recharged after the attack, and Terra took that chance to dive forward, burying his Keyblade square between its eyes. It roared again, thrashing, and dissolved into black mist and scraps of darkness like all the rest. Terra let out a yelp as he fell, only to smack hard into one of Damien’s cards. He winced and sat up on it as it deposited him neatly on the rocks at the cave’s mouth again, and grinned up at the others. “Nice save,” he said, and Damien bowed, the gesture a little awkward in his current winged form. 

He turned to Lauriam, who had slid down the wall with a loud exhale. “That was incredible, Lauriam,” he told him, and the other blinked, sitting up in surprise. “Couldn’t have pulled it off that easily without you. Thanks.”

“I--” Lauriam managed, before coughing a little. “It was nothing,” he said, gesturing with a paw. “Just what happens when you put me in a forest, I suppose. But you’re very welcome, nonetheless. I’m...I hope you don’t mind if I wait here?” He laughed. “I don’t think I can stand right now.”

Terra laughed as well. “No problem,” he said. “You’ve earned a break.”

The other three ran back down the cave’s corridor towards the Heart’s cavern, bursting into it all at once. Thankfully, everyone seemed unharmed, and Marian was sitting demurely on Gisburne’s unconscious form. 

“Everyone’s alright?” Terra asked, and Robin grinned toothily, sketching a bow of his own. 

“Of course,” he said. “You handled the worst of it, my friends -- and thank you for that, by the way. Gisburne wasn’t too much trouble bereft of his ‘assistance’, as you can see. We’ll be taking him to Nottingham, and Marian and Kluck will figure out what to do from there.”

Ienzo chuckled. “Good,” he said, and then turned serious. “What about the Heart, is it safe?”

Robin paused and then turned, brow furrowing as he approached the cracked door and let out a hiss. “Damn,” he murmured. “Some of the shadows leaked in, after all.”

The three former Nobodies froze, and Damien and Ienzo could see Terra’s face crumple in badly disguised guilt. “I’m _sorry_ , Robin, I--” he began, but the fox cut him off with a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry,” he promised. “It’s not that bad, just a little stain. We have ways to fix that -- it happens a lot. You shouldn’t apologize, Terra; if it weren’t for you and yours, it would be a lot worse, and we might not have been able to fix it.”

Terra still looked guilty, and Ienzo put a paw on his leg to comfort him. “Fix it?” He asked, turning from the Terra to look at Robin. “How will you do that?”

Robin opened his mouth to respond, but footsteps behind them made him look past the trio and smile. “I think _he_ can answer that for you,” he said, nodding, and the three of them turned to see a tall figure, a deer in a dark brown cloak, enter the cavern. “Hello, Guardian; you’re right on time.”

The Guardian bowed his head in a nod. “Of course,” he murmured, his voice somehow oddly ageless. “The Heart calls, and I answer.” He turned to Terra and the other, inclining his head in acknowledgement. “The forest thanks you for your aid, Keybearer. Do not feel guilty -- you prevented a much worse fate from befalling us. A small stain is naught to fear; it is well within my realm of power to heal.”

Terra managed a smile and a nod, though it was plain to see he still felt some guilt. “Who are you?” Ienzo asked curiously. “Or...should the question be _what_ are you?”

“I am the Guardian,” the deer said. “That is all. I protect the forest and its Heart.” He stepped forward towards the doorway, laying a hand -- hoof? -- on it. A pulse of green-tinted magic almost like a cure spell (though to Ienzo it smelled like the forest itself was pressed up to his nose) spread across the doorway and into the expanse on the other side, and then the Guardian stepped away.

“It is done,” he told them. “The stain is gone. You did well today, my children, and Sherwood will be safe for now.” He turned to Robin. “But remember -- Guy of Gisburne and these Heartless he brought were not the first threat, and they will not be the last. Be vigilant, and be cautious.”

Robin nodded solemnly. “I know,” he said. “Don’t worry -- we’ll take care of it. Sherwood and Nottingham are our homes, and my men and I will protect them.”

“What if the Heartless come back?” Terra asked, unable to keep silent any longer. “What if we aren’t here the next time?”

The Guardian smiled fondly. “Worry not, Keybearer,” he said. “Your duties lie elsewhere, not here upon one world. There will always be Heartless, so long as one heart yet remains with Darkness within. But as there is always darkness, so there is always light to balance the scales. One cannot exist without the other, and so that will always remain.” He shook his head. “But there will always be Guardians to protect that balance -- the Keybearers, of course, and others to protect their own worlds.” The Guardian looked at Robin as he said that, and the fox looked a little sheepish.

“Ah,” Terra said quietly. That was it, then. In a way, Robin was his apprentice, like Terra and his friends had been to Eraqus. He would be this world’s Guardian, if he wasn’t already. “If you’re sure, then...I know we leave Sherwood in good hands.”

“Aw, thanks,” Robin teased. “But you lot ought to get going. Aren’t you looking for someone? Go on, they’re probably waiting. We can take care of the rest ourselves.”

Little John laughed. “Robin, don’t kick them out just like that,” he scolded. “We have to have a _proper_ send off, Merry Men style. What say you lot?”

The trio exchanged a look. “I think Lauriam would appreciate a party,” Ienzo said with a chuckle, and Terra laughed and nodded.

“It’s a deal, then!” Little John crowed happily. “Come on, let’s get this weasel to the old sheriff's place and get partying.”

As the group left, the Guardian stopped Terra, catching him by the arm. “I can sense your turmoil, young man,” he said softly, and Terra bowed his head. “Fear not -- your heart is strong, despite all it’s been through. Remain steadfast and believe in yourself and your comrades, and you will reach the end of your journey and find what you seek.”

Terra managed a small smile. “Thank you,” he said, and the Guardian let him follow the others. He noticed the deer didn’t follow him out, and turned to look -- he was gone. Terra shrugged, used to this sort of thing, and continued after them, reaching to help Lauriam stand once they reached the mouth of the cave and helping him walk until he could walk on his own.

The party at Nottingham was...not spectacular, and not very elaborate, but nonetheless, they all had a good time. Hearty food and music, of course, and the Merry Men and the townsfolk had more than enough hospitality to spare. It seemed as if this small village was more warm and welcoming than most places; like the world’s heart being exposed bled into the people itself, giving them that much more light to share with others.

But nights end as all things do, and the four of them said their goodbyes to Robin and the others, and headed out of town, Terra opening a corridor a good distance away to take them back to the skyscraper. 

It was more than a little relief to be back in their human forms, they thought -- especially Lauriam -- but their time as animals was...well, it had been an adventure. And Sherwood had been a very unique world.

But that adventure as over, and now it was time to see what awaited them next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG???? I was honestly overtaxing myself with a fight scene that really didn't need to be as complex as I tried to make it. But here it is, finally, and with this Sherwood arc is over! Finally, _god._
> 
> Thank all of you for being so patient, and I swear the next arc will be...relatively soon? I'm going to try to write the whole thing (three chapters or so) before starting to post it so there isn't as long a wait. 
> 
> I promise Amaru's backstory will be discussed eventually!! But for now, enjoy him being a badass. Speaking of backstories, get ready for a big one next arc~  
> EDIT: As you might notice, I went back and edited Lauriam after KHUx/KH3 shit, but yes, backstory will still happen.....fucking jerk.
> 
> Enjoy and I'll see you soon!


	25. Onwards and Upwards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just another interim, a day of rest before we go on to the next world -- and it seems that this world belongs to one of our own. What will it bring?

As Ienzo had been with them on the mission, he sent out his paper birds to the rest of the group as soon as they stepped into the hotel’s lobby. By the time they’d headed down to the makeshift lab to meet Even, half the rest of them were there, and they only had to wait a few minutes for Danny and Lea to make their way down. 

Terra was pleased to see that Lea arrived with Vanitas in tow, the boy looking almost...well, not happy, but at least not as sullen as usual. It seemed like the redhead was a good influence; then again, Lea had taken good care of Roxas, hadn’t he? Maybe he was just meant to do this sort of thing.

“Well, we’re back,” Terra said with a faint smile. “Things went alright, I guess, though obviously we didn’t find Aqua or Ven.”

Even nodded. “Unfortunately, I doubt things will be so easy,” he said with a sigh. “But the important question, I suppose -- this world as one with appearance altering magics around it, yes? How did that go?”

“Besides the fact that I was an anthropomorphic rabbit?” Ienzo said dryly, to a chorus of surprise and laughter from the others. “It went surprisingly well. Nothing felt unnatural, and we’re perfectly fine -- the only trouble was getting used to the new form, which really didn’t take long, either. We should be fine, if we end up going to another world like that one.”

Dilan nodded, crossing his arms and leaning against a table. “Good to know. Then the coats really were what was stopping the transformations before?”

“It seems likely,” Ienzo agreed. “In protecting us from the darkness, they prevented the form-changing magics from taking effect...in retrospect, probably to our detriment if our objective was stealth.”

Danny laughed. “Yeah, ‘cause weirdoes in black coats don’t stick out at all in, like...Agrabah, right?”

There was another chorus of laughter and amused expressions, and Terra had to smile -- it had only been...what, a week or so since the truth had come out and they’d all started their new purpose as this new Organization? And already it felt so much more like...something, he wasn’t sure. But it was warmer, whatever it was, than the cold and stiff Organization of Nobodies. He was glad for it.

The meeting dispersed soon after, given there had been no real developments, and Terra found himself hunting down Vanitas, who had made himself a nest of blankets and pillows in Terra’s own penthouse suite, shoved in one corner and piled thick and high. The boy had perched himself on the kitchenette’s counter, a Prize Pod in his lap, and was in the process of fishing out a Forest Muffin from within the Unversed.

“You know, those were always hell to chase down,” he said conversationally, leaning on the counter. Vanitas jumped, startled, but relaxed when he realized it was Terra -- and that in and of itself was leaps and bounds of progress, wasn’t it? “Took me like two hours to hunt down the ones I found in Enchanted Dominion.”

Vanitas laughed. “They’re little shits, that’s for sure,” he admitted. “But they have the best prizes. I don’t know where they get this stuff, but it’s all delicious.”

“It is,” Terra agreed. “I mean, I’m not much one for sweets unless it’s got lots of nuts in it, but still. Those three duck kids seemed to appreciate it.” He paused, tilting his head curiously. “Did you _live_ off the stuff in the Prize Pods…?”

Vanitas shrugged. “Yeah, kinda,” he said. “I dunno if I, like, _need_ to eat or anything? I mean, being of darkness and all. But when I felt like it, I could always summon one of these and shake something out of it. Not like there was anywhere like Tiana’s in the Badlands.”

“You really lived there?” Terra had...expected that, in a way, but it was still not so great to hear. “I’m sorry, that place was…”

“Miserable? Dead? Boring? A blasted wasteland full of graves and ghosts, the same place Xehanort created me by throwing Ven into the jaws of half a dozen Heartless?” Vanitas asked bitterly. “ _Yeah_. But I had nowhere else to go. I knew I’d hurt Ven if I got too close to him, just because I wanted to be _in_ him again, and I just-- I couldn’t escape Xehanort. So I stayed. Summoned Unversed, killed them, the hurt and pain of them being killed created more so I killed those…” He shrugged. “Did that until Xehanort needed me, pretty much.”

Terra frowned, and without much thought leaned over to tug Vanitas into a hug. The boy was startled enough to let the Prize Pod go (thankfully it only started hovering a bit aimlessly a few feet in the air), but after a moment of surprise he shifted to bury himself in Terra’s arms with a sigh.

“I’m well aware how royally screwed up my existence was,” he muttered into Terra’s chest. “Always was. I just never figured anyone would _care_.”

Terra sighed. “I care,” he said. “We all do. What Xehanort did to you and Ven isn’t right, and you deserve better.”

“Thanks,” Vanitas muttered. “Seriously, though, you and Lea are the weirdest people I’ve met.”

“We are?” Terra laughed. “I was meaning to ask about that, by the way. How’d you and Lea get on while we were away?”

Vanitas snorted. “Fine, really,” he admitted. “He showed me another world, uh-- Twilight Town. Made some comment about it being ‘tradition’ and got me ice cream. Let me ask him questions about normal people stuff. It was weird, but he’s alright, I guess. I can see why Ven liked him.”

Terra smiled. “Yeah, ice cream in Twilight Town’s a pretty big deal for Lea,” he explained. “It’s...a friendship thing. So hey, that means Lea considers you a friend.”

“Yeah, but he’s the type to make friends with _everyone_ ,” Vanitas muttered, but he seemed pleased nonetheless. “Whatever, though, the ice cream was good anyway.”

Terra snorted, letting go of Vanitas to hop up on the counter himself, reaching out to poke the Prize Pod until it spit out a Heroic Orange. “One of these days, when this is over, I’ll take you to Disney Town and get you some ice cream there. You’ll like it.”

“Bet I will,” Vanitas said with a snort, and leaned on Terra as the two had their snack.

\-----------

It was early the next morning when something happened -- Terra was woken by a shrill chirp, and he nearly fell off the couch with a yelp. The paper bird was perched on the counter, chirping continuously, and suddenly Terra understood why Ienzo was so sure his little creations would work.

“What the _hell_ is that?!” Vanitas groaned, crawling out of his nest and glaring blearily at the bird. “What nutjob does villainy this _early?”_

Terra stifled a laugh, grabbing his boots and tugging them on. “Only the worst villains make people get up before eight,” he joked. “Come on, let’s get downstairs and see what’s going on.”

Vanitas gave Terra a rude gesture, but got to his feet and trailed off after Terra through the corridor he’d opened, Terra pulling his hair into a ponytail on the way.

Everyone else trickled into the lab after them, all in various stages of irritable for being awoken. Danny was the last in, still clearly half asleep, wandering in after an incredibly annoyed Relena.

“That was _rude_ , Ienzo,” she said with a huff. “Some of us actually sleep, you know.”

Ienzo smiled faintly. “Yes, I know. People that aren’t Even, usually, but apparently he decided that it was too important to let us sleep in an extra hour.”

“Oh, hush,” Even muttered. “It’s not an emergency, I’ll grant, but the computers _have_ picked up a new discrepancy, a spike of Darkness in a world nearby. It seems it’s only recently returned, and I suppose there are some lingering effects...”

“Nearby?” Lea asked. “Like how nearby?”

Even shrugged, turning to the screen. “Closer than New Orleans and Sherwood, but not as close as the worlds we’re used to visiting,” he explained. “Let’s see, what’s it called...ah, here it is. Ohana Islands, apparently. I--”

_“What?!”_

They all jumped, turning to face Danny, who had gone white. “Did you just-- _Ohana Islands?!_ That’s-- we have to go, _now!”_ He turned to Terra, who was surprised. “I’m going with you, we gotta go now! I can’t--”

“Calm down,” Terra promised; it wasn’t hard to figure out why he was so upset, after all. “We’ll go now, Danny, it’ll be alright.”

Danny let out a hiss of breath. “I can’t-- what if there’s trouble, what if-- Lilo can’t handle it on her own, she’s like _eight_ , and-- and _Stitch_ , he’s--” He was pacing nervously already, and Vanitas grabbed his arm.

“Chill,” he said. “Look, corridor’s open, just get your ass in there and remember how to _breathe_ for a minute, maybe.”

Danny took a gulp of air and glanced around at the others, who looked genuinely startled to see the usually laid-back musician panicking like this, and a little concerned. “Okay,” he managed. “Okay, I’m-- yeah.” He turned to Terra and Vanitas -- who was obviously coming with them, for whatever reason, as he’d already stuck himself to the other Keybearer’s side -- and managed a weak smile. “Let’s get going.” 

He paused and grabbed Even by the arm, making the scientist yelp. “You get to come with us,” he added. “Trust me, you won’t mind, you’ll make a friend.” He glanced at Ienzo as if for permission, and the other shooed him on with a nod.

“He needs to get out of the lab,” Ienzo said with a snort. “Take him with you, go on.”

Even sputtered a little bit, but Danny ignored him, and the four left through the corridor from the lab, hurrying to Danny’s world to make sure it would be safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a little bit of a buffer and I'm excited, so here you go! I'm looking forward to this arc. It's a short one, but I'm really hyped for it. Let's goooo~~
> 
> (Have some brotherly cuteness, too)


	26. Aloha!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Ohana Islands, where the sun shines on the sea, and there are a good six-hundred plus small and mischievous aliens running amok. Oh, and Heartless, too. This will prove interesting.
> 
>  
> 
> _"There's no place I'd rather be, then on my surfboard out at sea..."_

The world the four of them stumbled out into was bright, almost happily so -- it was a beachside town, the sun sparkling on the water, with palm trees and a rainbow of umbrellas and people dotting the beach that stretched out before them. A white fence separated the sloping sand from the street behind it, and colorful houses and buildings stretched in the opposite direction. Off to the side in the distance were taller buildings, hotels and the like, but the buildings closer to the beach were smaller. 

“Wow,” Terra said. “It’s a little like Sora’s world.”

“A bit,” Danny said absently, letting go of Even to stare out at the ocean with a faint smile. “But this is _my_ world.” He shook himself off and turned to jog up the beach. “Come on, this way!”

He didn’t say where they were going, but he led them out of the beach area and into the streets, running through them like he knew exactly where he was going -- and he did, it seemed. He skidded to a halt in front of a small house, painted turquoise with white shutters. A battered old van decorated with stickers and painted-on fish sat in front of it, and the porch had several fish-themed glass windchimes and other odds and ends cluttering it.

Danny tore down the short driveway. “Mom!” He yelled as he bounded up the steps, seeing the front window open. “Mom, it’s me! I’m home!”

Vanitas blinked, and Even and Terra exchanged looks as they trailed behind him. Well, this was going to be a little awkward, Terra thought. How were they going to explain Danny’s absence, his time as Demyx? But then again, the world had been gone -- would it have been noticed?

The door practically flew open, and a tall woman with dirty blonde hair and glasses caught Danny in her arms and dragged him into a tight embrace. _“Daniel!”_ She cried, and Danny spun her around, the two of them laughing in relief. 

Eventually they turned, and the woman -- obviously Danny’s mother -- grinned at the other three. She was pretty, wearing dark jeans and a teal polo that said ‘Kokaua Aquarium’ on the breast. “New friends?” She asked Danny, who grinned at her.

“Yep,” he said. “This is Terra, the kid’s Vanitas, and the nerd is Even.” He motioned for them to come over. “Guys, this is my mom.”

She offered her hand. “Lorelai Myde,” she said. “Call me Lola, though. it’s good to meet you. We’ve all been worrying about my boy since we got back from...well, wherever. He’s been away few months now, so...”

“A few months?” Danny asked, surprised. “Mom, it’s been fiv--” He cut himself off, shaking his head. “Nevermind. I’m really glad it wasn’t all that long for you.” He stuck his hands in his pants pockets. “We gotta head out to Lilo’s soon, ‘cause we’re kinda...I’m kinda helping Terra with something important, and they need to talk to the gang up there,” he explains. “But I wanted to see you.”

Lola raised her eyebrow at his change of subject, but kissed his cheek. “I hear you. I’m sure Nani and David will want to see you’re okay, anyway. At least come in for breakfast? I get the feeling you boys haven’t eaten yet, considering how early it is. I can always make a few extra pancakes.”

Terra laughed. “We haven’t, actually, Ms. Lola,” he said. “Thanks for the offer.”

The group followed Danny and his mom into their house, and Danny shooed them into the comfortable living room while he tore upstairs into what was probably his room for a few minutes. He came back down carrying a backpack and wearing a different set of clothes -- not the ones Lottie had sent, but jeans, a white t-shirt, and an open blue button-down on top of that. “Ahhh,” he said, crashing into the blue easy chair. “I feel like me again.”

“What’s in the backpack?” Vanitas asked, sitting cross-legged on the couch. 

“Stuff,” Danny explained. “Stuff I missed. Basically, stuff I’m taking back to the hotel with me when we go.” He laughed. “Didn’t exactly have a decent phone charger back at the World That Never Was.”

“Not even gonna pretend I know what a phone is,” Vanitas muttered. “But basically I get it.”

Danny snorted. “Well, anyway, if you guys want you can raid my closet, too, or my dad’s old stuff. Gotta be more comfortable than the stuff Lottie sent from ‘stuck in the 1920s’ land.”

“I’ll think about taking you up on that,” Terra admitted with a chuckle. “Or at the very least we can go clothes-shopping later, once we’ve dealt with whatever trouble’s here.”

Danny nodded, and the four of them talked aimlessly for a bit while Danny’s mother finished breakfast -- they could smell it from the living room, and when she stepped out of the kitchen to call them to eat, Vanitas was the first into the other room, ducking under her arm to get to the table. Lola laughed, watching him slip into one of the white wicker chairs. “Hungry little guy you got there, Danny,” she joked. “But I guess growing boys like him need their food. You ate enough for a dozen when you were his age.”

“Mom!” Danny protested, reddening, but he joined in the laughter -- even if Vanitas shifted awkwardly, not wanting to tell the woman he wasn’t a _person_ \-- and sat with the rest to eat their breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausages.

During breakfast, Danny’s mother filled him and the others on what had been going on in the few months span between the world’s return and then. Terra frowned slightly when the woman explained about the alien scientist and his experiments -- it sounded familiar somehow -- but pushed that aside as she told them about the alien named Hamsterviel and his plans to capture all the experiments.

“That could be bad,” Danny admitted. “I was here when the experiments all got released, and a lot of ‘em are...well, you could mistake some of ‘em for Heartless and vice versa, I think,” he told them. “So...we should probably make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Lola sa back in her chair. “It’s been quiet for a little while, actually. I keep in touch with Nani, and Lilo and them haven’t found any new experiments for a few weeks. Then again, that’s when they tend to worry, because things aren’t allowed to be quiet for long around here.”

“Damn right,” Danny said with a laugh. “Around here nothing’s quiet for long, especially with Stitch around.”

Terra chuckled, and leaned over to the awkwardly silent Even as the conversation continued. “Sorry about Danny dragging you here,” he said with an apologetic smile. “I know you’re not really one for, uh... _people_.”

“No, _really?_ I would have thought that obvious.” Even asked dryly, sighing and picking at his pancakes. “Don’t apologize,” he added as an afterthought. “It’s...tolerable. At least Dem-- _Daniel_ is happy. And I _am_ interested in this scientist…I suppose we’ll meet him soon enough.”

“Yeah,” Terra said. “I feel like something about this is familiar, but it could just be my imagination.” He sighed. Like Even said, though, he’d find out soon enough.

\-----------

After they finished breakfast they left, Danny promising to stop by again before they left the Islands -- to get more things, probably, and clothes -- and he led them out to a slightly battered old blue two-story house on stilts near the outskirts of town.

“Up here, this way,” Danny said, leading them up the steps and knocking on the door, loud enough to make the others wince. “Sometimes they don’t hear it,” he explained. “Things sometimes get...explodey in there. Mad scientist and all.”

Terra looked at Even, who actually let out a quiet chuckle, and then back at the door when it wa opened by a young woman about Danny’s age, in shorts and a crop-top. “Wh-- Danny!” She yelped, surprised. “You’re back!”

“Yep,” Danny said with a grin. “Hi, Nani.” The young woman leaned to the side to see Terra and the others, and glanced back at him with a raised eyebrow. Danny laughed. “Well, stuff happened. Long story. short version is that this guy--” He pointed at Terra. “Is kind of an, uh...intergalactic space hero guy and I kinda ended up helping him with stuff.”

Nani snorted. “Why can’t anyone here be normal?” She asked with a shake of her head. “Well, alright, come on in, all of you. I’ll get the others.”

Her way of ‘getting the others’, apparently, was stepping into the doorway of the living room once Danny and the others were in it and shouting for everyone at the top of her lungs. Danny mouthed that it was normal, which made the others laugh, and turned back to grin at a little girl in a red dress that ducked beneath her sister’s legs with a grin. 

“Danny!” She said. “You came back! Did you get abducted by aliens?” She sounded very matter-of-fact in her questions, more curious than annoyed. “I told Nani that’s what happened, but she didn’t believe me.”

 _“Totally_ got abducted by aliens,” Danny said. “It’s a long story. But some cool guys saved my butt, and now I’m helping them with stuff.” He indicated Terra when he said ‘cool guy’, and Terra blushed.

The girl nodded sagely, walking up to Terra and squinting up at him like she was assessing him, before nodding. “Yup,” she said. “You look like the space hero type. I’m Lilo.”

“Hi, Lilo,” Terra said with a laugh. “I’m--”

 _“Terra!!”_ He was interrupted by a shout, and then a small ball of blue fur barrelled off of the ceiling to tackle him to the ground. “Terra! _Jaba ramid nye hassin!”_

Lilo yelped in surprise. “Stitch! Don’t attack stranger-- wait, you _know_ him?!”

Terra managed to extricate himself from the excited alien’s hug and looked down -- and gasped. “Hey, you’re-- yeah! I know you, you were that alien from the spaceship!” It was indeed -- he looked a little more...doglike, maybe, in a strange sort of way, but it was definitely...what was it, 626? “So you’re Stitch, huh? That’s a good name.” 

_“Ih!”_ The alien said with a toothy grin. “Terra,” he pointed at him, and then at the girl. “Lilo. Terra and Lilo, friends.” He nodded at that, as if he was stating something gravely important, and then Lilo laughed.

“Well, hey, if you’re a friend of Stitch’s, then you’re definitely a friend of ours,” she said. “He doesn’t get that excited about almost anybody.”

“I feel special, then,” he said with a laugh, and got up, letting Stitch perch himself on his shoulders, resting his head on top of Terra’s. “I’m glad he’s doin’ okay. But wait-- does that mean your mad scientist is--”

“What is going _on_ in here?” A rather shrill voice echoed from the hallway, and two people -- very, very obviously aliens -- hurried in. The first and speaker was a one-eyed green...person, with four stubby legs and spindly fingers, wearing a dress, and behind him was a lumbering purple alien with four eyes, in a loud patterned shirt. “Who are they-- oh, it’s you! Daniel, hello again! We were wondering what happened to you, are you alright?”

Danny laughed. “Hi, Pleakley,” he said with a wave. “I’m fine, really. Long story, tell you later, helping these guys out with stuff now mostly.” He grinned, and then paused, glancing from Terra to the purple alien, who were staring at each other. “Uhh…Terra? Do you know Jumba?”

 _“You!”_ The two shouted, almost in unison, answering Danny’s question for him.

“I remember you! You _tricked_ me!” Terra said, Stitch snickering from his perch. “You tricked me _and_ you set your electric experiment on me!”

“I did no such thing!” Jumba protested. “I mean, yes, I did activate Experiment 221, and did not give you all the facts in the matter when I implored you to release me from cell, but _you_ were one who actually did so! _And_ you questioned my genius!”

Terra resisted the urge to facepalm. “I let you out because you said you were wrongly imprisoned!” He shot back. “How was I supposed to know you were lying, I’d _literally_ just accidentally ended up on the ship! And I didn’t question your genius, I just argued with you about Stitch!” He paused. “And obviously I was _right_ , so there!”

Jumba stopped to sputter, and Stitch cackled. _“Emba-chua,_ Terra,” he said smugly. “Jumba _ika patooka_.”

“You be quiet, 626!” Jumba huffed. “Just because I may have miscalculated just how evil you are does not mean was _wrong_.”

Lilo giggled. “No, you’re wrong,” she informed him. “And _really_ wrong, if Terra met Stitch way back then and could tell he had good in him.” She turned to Terra. “Thanks for believing in him. It helped him find his way to us!”

“I’m glad it did,” Terra said solemnly. Friends...yeah, that’s what Stitch had been wondering about back then. Why he’d stolen his wayfinder, and then given it back. By the looks of it, he had found friends of his own, and good ones. He was glad, even if it was a bit bittersweet. Stitch had found friends, and...Terra had lost his.

Stitch seemed to sense this and draped himself over Terra’s head so he could stare at Terra nose-to-nose, even if the alien was upside down. “Terra find friends?” He asked. “Akuwa and Ven?”

“I--” He looked surprised, and then laughed a little sadly. “You met them, too, huh? Shouldn’t be surprised, we all just kept missing each other back then.” He patted Stitch a little sadly. “No,” he said. “I found them, but then I lost them again. I’m looking for them now, that’s part of why I’m here.”

Stitch made a sound and then hopped off Terra’s head to land next to Lilo, skittering around to tug on her arm. “Terra, Akuwa, Ven, _friends_ ,” he said insistently. “Terra lost friends. _Ohana_. Help Terra?”

Lilo blinked. “You’re looking for your _ohana?”_ She asked, and glanced at Danny for confirmation. He nodded -- making Terra wonder just what the word meant -- and Lilo turned back. “Well, why didn’t you say so? If there’s anything we can do to help, you got it, Terra!”

“I-- thanks,” Terra said with a laugh. “Really appreciate that.” He shifted, rubbing the back of his neck. “S’not the only reason we’re here, though. Can you tell me if you guys have seen, uh-- not your experiments, but _other_ weird-looking monsters? Some of ‘em have symbols that look like hearts on them.”

Lilo and Nani exchanged looks, and Nani nodded. “Yeah,” she admitted. “My, uh, friend David--”

“Her _boyfriend_ ,” Lilo interjected, which made Nani smack her upside the head affectionately. “Saw some weird monsters the other night at the place he works. He told us ‘cause he thought they might be experiments, but Jumba said he didn’t recognize the description.”

“That’s it, then, probably,” Terra said with a nod. “They’re called Heartless,” he explained. “They’re...creatures made out of the darkness in people’s hearts. Part of me and my friends’ job is to take care of them, and that’s why I’m followin’ the Heartless -- I’m hoping they’re doing the same, and we’ll run into each other.”

Lilo tilts her head. “Monsters made out of darkness?” She asked. “I guess you can’t deal with something like that by finding them their One True Place, then, huh?”

“Oh, of _course_ not,” Vanitas said, the first time he’d spoken since they’d arrived at Lilo’s. “Why would darkness be anything but bad, after all, right?”

Lilo frowned at him. “It was a question, buttface,” she said, annoyed. “I wasn’t saying, I was _asking_. What’s it to you, anyway? You’re helping Terra fight ‘em, right?”

“Well, _excuse_ me,” Vanitas sniped back. “Asking, sorry. Didn’t think it needed to be asked. I mean, darkness is evil, isn’t it? Not like anything with a _heart_ , like your alien buddy.”

“Hey, don’t bring Stitch into--”

The argument was cut off by several loud alarms blaring, sending the group leaping to their feet and Jumba scrambling out of the room to retrieve the source (or one of the sources) a handheld device that looked put together from scrap.

“We may have problem,” the scientist said matter-of-factly. “Alarm going off says that there is rather large energy signature coming from vicinity of Hamsterviel’s crash.”

“Another experiment?” Nani asked, but Jumba shook his head.

“Readings are not any of mine,” he said. “I actually do not know-- excuse me!” He snapped in surprise, as Even reached over to snatch the device out of his hands.

“Ah,” he said, glancing over at Terra. “These are definitely from a Heartless, though I’ve never quite seen them spiking this much, save for--” He stopped, distaste creeping over his features. “Doctor, ah, Jumba,” he began. “This Hamsterviel, he’s...a scientist too, is he not?”

“Yes,” Jumba replied. “Is a former associate of mine. Not as smart, though.”

Even groaned. “Of course,” he muttered. “Well, your _former associate_ may or may not have mistaken a Heartless for one of your experiments, and did something to it that we’ll all likely have to regret.”

“Oh,” Jumba said. “Fascinating!”

“Normally I’d agree with you,” Even admitted. “Not, however, when _we’re_ going to have to deal with it.”

Terra managed a chuckle. “Even, if you want to stay with Dr. Jumba and work something out in case we need, uh, science stuff, Stitch can get us to where the Heartless is?”

Stitch cackled happily, and Lilo laughed. “Yeah, Stitch, go ahead, we’ll be right behind you,” she told them. “Careful with Gantu, he’s a big _patooki!”_

“We’ll be careful,” Terra promised, and with Stitch darting out the door, the rest of the group followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So lucky for all of us, this is going to be a short arc! Two chapters. But after this we'll finally get into more plot-heavy stuff, so bear with me here~
> 
> In the meantime, enjoy Danny's homeworld, some flashbacks to BBS, and the Ohana Gang being their usual disasters.
> 
> (Also, god fucking bless the Stitch database and [their dictionary of Stitch-speak](http://stitchdatabase.wikia.com/wiki/Tantalog_language), without which I'd still be staring helplessly at Word going "?????")


	27. Ohana Means Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight, thankfully, doesn't take long -- it's the conversations after that are important. Some words need no explanation, and some have meaning across worlds.
> 
> _"This is my family. I found it all on my own. Is little, and broken, but still good. Ya. Still good."_

The group followed Stitch through the forest behind the house and town, scrambling over tree roots and branches and rocks after the little blue alien, who was shouting his nonsense language with gleeful abandon.

“This thing--” Vanitas managed, vaulting over a particularly large root next to Terra. “--Stitch, I mean. He knows Ven?”

Terra glanced over. “Yeah,” he says. “He must have run into all of us. Was some spaceship we crashed into near Neverland.”

“Oh,” Vanitas said. “Didn’t see it, just took a corridor to Neverland. S’probably why.”

Danny shouted behind them. “Gantu incoming, I see him!” He yelled, and the others did a double-take, seeing a huge, shark-headed alien crash through the trees ahead of them, already shooting a blaster...but not at them, at something behind him.

“It’s you!” He snarled at Stitch, who growled back. “I’ve got no time for you right now, trog! That-- that _thing_ is getting bigger!” That said, he ran through the woods away from them. Stitch blinked, and followed his path slowly with his whole had, before shrugging and tearing off in the direction he’d come.

Terra shrugged. “Well, if it’s scaring that guy, then it’s probably something we should handle,” he said dryly. 

“Y-Yeah,” Danny said, catching up.to them. “Gantu’s pretty...he’s basically Saix at his grumpiest,” he said. “If _he’s_ freaked out by this Heartless…”

Vanitas snorted. “Better handle it before shark-face wets himself, then,” he joked, glancing at Stitch and seeming to note at least something in common, because he grinned. “C’mon, little guy. Wanna go kick some butt?”

Stitch cackled. _“Meega nala kweesta!”_ He crowed brightly, and he and Vanitas tore off ahead of the others.

“....I think I should be worried about that,” Terra noted, hurrying after the two with Danny at his heels. “But on the other hand, at least Vanitas made a friend?”

“They have a lot in common,” Danny said with a laugh. “We should probably just make sure nothing too important gets blown up.”

The two finally crashed into the clearing ahead of them, seeing Stitch -- having grabbed an abandoned blaster, presumably one of Gantu’s -- and Vanitas already locked in combat with their target. If it had once resembled one of the experiments, it didn’t any longer; for some reason, it had grown far larger than a normal-sized Heartless. Far, _far_ larger. In fact, Terra could swear it was growing by inches before his eyes.

The Heartless had probably resembled an experiment at one point; small, animal-like, and vaguely cute. After it had started growing, though, its features had warped, and Terra couldn’t really even place what it had looked like to start with. Possibly one of the monkey-type Heartless, or a Tornado Step? Either way, it didn’t look like anything but a monster now, unrecognizable. 

Not that what it _looked_ like was important, he reflected, summoning his Keyblade to join the fight. Danny behind him summoned his sitar, grinning. “Hey, see if you guys can lure it down to the beach!” He yelled. “Should be a shortcut to the right, Stitch!”

Stitch laughed and bounced from the Heartless onto a tree, and rebounded off the branch into the woods in the direction Danny had indicated, shooting all the while. Vanitas glanced at Terra for confirmation on the plan, and receiving a nod tore off after them. Terra and Danny were close behind, and together the four managed to herd the Heartless out of the forest and onto an empty stretch of beach.

“Keep it occupied, okay?” Danny asked Terra. “I’ve never done anything with this much water before, it might take me a minute.”

Terra nodded and darted into the battle, giving Vanitas a pat on the shoulder as he raced past. Vanitas shot him a grin and jumped back out of reach to let Terra get in closer, lifting a hand to summon a few Glidewinders and sending them to dart around the Heartless’s head. 

“Hey, Stitch, c’mere!” He yelled, and the alien raced over. Vanitas knelt to whisper something to him and Stitch cackled, nodding emphatically. Vanitas’s grin widened and he backed up as Stitch tore off down the beach only to whip right around and barrel right at Vanitas, who stepped to the side and held his Keyblade out horizontally. With a shout of _“Tookie bah wah bah!”_ , Stitch leapt onto it and Vanitas swung the Keyblade to add to the momentum, the alien cackling almost gleefully as he rolled into what looked like nothing more than a laser-shooting ball of speed, bouncing amid the Unversed.

The Heartless roared, batting angrily at Terra and the annoyances attacking his head. Its huge arms, growing even huger by the moment almost certainly now, slammed hard into Terra and knocked him into a palm tree, and batted Stitch across the beach into rock hard enough to make a crater in it. The Unversed were destroyed and Vanitas let out a cry, dropping to a knee and clutching his chest.

Danny swore, eyes wide. “Oh, come on!” He yelped from his spot in the shallow tide, the water rippling and swirling around him. “I’m not-- I’m not _ready_ yet!”

The Heartless lifted a huge hand and prepared to bring it down upon Danny, who cringed -- but nothing happened but the creature roaring. Danny opened his eyes to see the Heartless’s hand frozen and let out a sigh of relief as he turned to see Even, alongside Jumba and Nani, running down the beach behind Lilo with Pleakley trailing along behind.

“That is one big monster!” Jumba said excitedly. “Perhaps could--” He was cut off by Even swatting him upside the back of the head with the hand not holding his shield.

“No,” he said flatly. “Experience says it’s a _terrible_ idea.” He turned to Danny. “Do it _now_ , Daniel!” He snapped. 

“Jeez, rush me, why don’t you,” Danny muttered, but nodded. “We got this?” He asked, nodding at the water and then at the Heartless’s hand, the ice crumbling off it.

Even just returned the nod silently, and Danny turned with a wide grin, plucking some strings on the sitar he had balanced before him. Humming a few bars of a song -- Elvis, just for the occasion -- he set the seawater around them lifting into the air and forming a giant hand that grabbed the Heartless, pressing down on it and drenching the sand around it. The Heartless snarled, struggling beneath the weight of the water, but couldn’t move.

“Now!” Danny yelled over his shoulder, and Even -- with none of the dramatics of any of the other members (or perhaps _some_ ) -- simply lifted a hand, sending the water freezing around the Heartless and up in sharp, stabbing icicles, trapping it in a frozen cage. Danny let the water drop once the ice reached halfway up the water’s ‘arm’ so the ice didn’t get to the ocean, and Even snapped his fingers, shattering the ice and the Heartless both.

There was silence a moment before Stitch -- who knew when he’d gotten up and skittered back over -- cheered loudly, climbing on top of a protesting Even and giggling. Danny laughed, dismissing his sitar and walking over to see if Terra and Vanitas were alright. “I guess he decided you were cooler than me, Even,” he joked.

“Yes, well, I wish he hadn’t,” Even grumbled, letting his shield vanish and attempting to pry the alien off him. Judging by the swears from behind him, Danny could tell it wasn’t going so well.

Vanitas stood shakily, waving Danny’s hand away and shaking his head. “M’fine,” he said. “Go check on Terra. I’m used to this stuff happening.” 

“If you’re sure...” Danny said hesitantly, only to be shooed away by Vanitas’s glare. 

Vanitas sighed, shaking his head and letting himself drop to the sand with a sigh. He closed his eyes for a moment, only to open them with a yelp when he heard someone beside him.

“So Danny’s a superhero now, huh?” Lilo said blandly, hands on her hips. “That’s kind of cool. I wish I could do that, you know? It would make surfing _so_ much more fun. Never have to wait for good waves and all.”

Vanitas laughed a little shortly. “Yeah, superhero, that’s one way to put it,” he muttered.

Lilo ignored the bitterness in his voice and sat down on the sand next to him. “I saw you summon those little shooty glidey things,” she said, just as unfazed as she seemed to be this whole time so far. “And I saw you get hurt when they got poofed. Are they part of you?”

“Yeah,” he said, turning to her with annoyance on his face. “The little monster things are part of me. _Literally_ , in fact.” So maybe he was taking out some frustration on her; isn’t that what monsters did, though? “Figures you don’t know, but let me fill you in. You know the _darkness_ that Heartless are made out of? That’s what I’m made out of, too. A really big jerk pulled me out of someone else’s heart and created me like this, and those monsters I make are ‘cause I’m too _unstable_ toexist without making them every time I feel something too hard. So _yeah_ ,” he finished acidly. “That’s me, another monster like the Heartless. Gotta just kick my butt, right? No way else to deal with me.”

Lilo stared at him with an odd look on her face for a moment before reaching out to grab his cheeks with both hands and pull them hard, letting go and smacking them lightly. “You’re dumb,” she told him matter-of-factly. “You’re not like those Heartless things. Mr. Even explained them to us. _Those_ are just like bugs or whatever, they just appear and exist without anyone tellin’ them to, so you gotta exterminate them. You’re not a bug, dummy.” 

She sighed. “You got _made_ ,” she explained, as if it was obvious. “Just like Stitch. Jumba made Stitch to be an evil weapon of mass destruction-y stuff. Kaboom, things exploding, stuff breaking-- Jumba was _pretty_ insistent that’s all that Stitch was made for and all he understood.” She looked back over at Stitch, still attached to Even, but having apparently given up on annoying him in favor of using his new height to pester Jumba by poking him and scrambling out of reach onto Even’s shoulders and then doing it over again.

“And look,” she said. “He was wrong. Well, _mostly_. Stitch still has a little trouble with his evilness sometimes, but he’s working on it.” She laughed. “Anyway, the important part is that he found his One True Place with us, and that’s what we’re doing for all the experiments we find. All six hundred and twenty six of them.” She patted his cheeks again and put her hands in her lap. “You’re just like Stitch,” she repeated. “And that means you’ll find your One True Place, too. So don’t worry about that, okay?”

Vanitas blinked. “I-- thanks,” he said after a moment. “Is it weird that that’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me?”

Lilo snorted. “Yes,” she told him. “But that’s okay. Weird is good.”

Vanitas laughed and stood, Lilo getting up with him, and the two turned to look over at Terra and Danny as they approached. 

“You okay, Vanitas?” Terra asked in concern, rubbing his shoulder. “Saw you go down...everything alright?”

Vanitas shrugged and nodded. “Yeah,” He said. “I’m okay. S’not the worst thing that happened, I’m fine. Needed a bit to catch my breath is all. You woulda known if I wasn’t okay, trust me.”

Terra shook his head. “Well, it’s a good thing you were, then,” he said, reaching out to ruffle Vanitas’s hair. “C’mon, we should probably head back to Lilo’s.”

Lilo grinned at Vanitas as the group all trudged back down the beach back to Lilo’s house, and Vanitas stuck his tongue out at her. She did the same back, and the two laughed. Stitch seemed to sense he was missing out on the fun, so he leapt off Even and darted back to climb on top of Vanitas instead, draping himself dramatically over his head with his feet balanced on Vanitas’s shoulders.

The group got back to the house to drop Lilo, Stitch, Nani, and the aliens off, and Lilo stopped at the top of the steps while Danny said his goodbyes to Nani off to the side.

“You know, Vanitas,” she said thoughtfully. “I think you might’ve already found your Place.” Vanitas blinked at her, startled, and she shrugged. “Maybe,” she added airily, and then looked over at Terra, who was the newest victim of Stitch’s attention. “I hope you find your _ohana_ , Terra.”

Terra stopped midway through trying to pry Stitch off his head. “I was meaning to ask,” he said. “What does that mean, exactly? _Ohana_ , I mean.”

Lilo smiled. “It means family,” she explained. “ _Ohana_ means family. It means no one gets left behind or forgotten. Nani, Stitch, David, even Jumba and Pleakley, they’re my _ohana_. So I hope you find yours, okay?”

“I--” Terra broke off, and then smiled back. “I will,” he said. “We’ll always find each other. It might take a while, but I know I’ll find them again. ‘Cause you’re right -- no one gets left behind or forgotten.”

Lilo nodded, heading inside, and Stitch hopped off Terra’s shoulders to follow. He paused, though, turning to watch Terra a moment. “Terra?” He said, tilting his head. “Terra, Akuwa, and Ven. _Ohana_. You find them, _ih?”_

“Yeah, I will,” he said. “And then we’ll all come see you again, how about that? I mean, you’re our friend too.”

Stitch grinned toothily at that. “Friends,” he repeated. “Good! No forgetting.”

“Won’t forget,” Terra promised, and Stitch nodded at him, heading back inside. Nani headed up after them, shooing Jumba away from Even, and Danny headed back over to the group.

“I guess it’s time to go?” He asked, with an almost sad smile.

“Yeah,” Terra said, and frowned. “You know you can stay, right? This is your home. You don’t have to--”

“Lilo would _murder_ me,” Danny said flatly. “I’m a superhero now, I have to go save outer space, and all that. If I copped out now, no one would find my body, and I’m not even joking about that.” He paused, and laughed. “Besides, I can’t ditch you guys! Some friend I’d be.”

Even raised an eyebrow. “So says the one who did as little work as humanly possible over the past five years,” he said dryly. “I’m surprised you’re using the word _friend_ so easily, really -- if I remember right, the only one you were close to was Xi-- Braig.”

“Well, yeah,” Danny said. “But you guys aren’t-- saying ‘allies’ or ‘colleagues’ -- _ugh_ \-- doesn’t sound right. I mean, sure, Organization XIII _sucked_ , but...that’s not us anymore. We’re...just the Organization, I guess. It’s different.” He smiled. “And we’re _friends_.”

Terra smiled back. “I’m glad you think so,” he said. “And...thanks, Danny. For staying.” He put his hand on Danny’s arm, only to yelp when Danny pulled him into a hug instead. He hesitated for a moment, but then returned the gesture. Eventually they broke the hug and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Right, so...let’s go say goodbye to your mom, then,” Terra suggested.

“Sounds good,” Danny said. “And we can grab some more clothes and other stuff, too.”

Vanitas rolled his eyes. “Why is it every world I go to suddenly dumps clothes on us?” He muttered, and the others laughed, Even snorting in amusement.

“Who knows,” Terra said. “It’s a mystery.” 

Vanitas punched his arm and the four of them headed back through the town to Danny’s house. It had certainly been a much shorter trip than the last two, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing -- less to do meant the world was in a lot less danger. Hopefully, though, their next trip would provide them with more than just Heartless...anything to point them in the right direction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, we leave the islands. This was a damn fun arc to write! After this, thank god, we'll be finally getting into the worlds that have more connection to the main story. I hope you enjoy the next one, because it's gonna be a hell of a time for me to write! It'll sure be interesting though. For now, all I'll say is...I hope you like Ienzo, because this arc is kind of his.
> 
> See you guys soon!


	28. Overprotective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of them can't communicate, and one of them doesn't listen -- and with that argument out of the way, now they have to deal with the fallout during their next mission. That'll be fun, won't it?

That evening, the group came out of the corridor into the hotel laden with bags -- Danny’s mother had taken them all out on a shopping trip for clothes (for them and the rest of the Organization), and treated them for dinner at the restaurant David worked at before they’d left. It had honestly been much appreciated -- and the rest of the group, once the bags were passed out, had appreciated it too.

The next day passed uneventfully for the most part -- Terra dragged Lea off to one of the ballrooms to spar for a bit, and half the Organization tagged along. Presumably it was to see Lea get his ass kicked, or one would guess from his complaining, but it was just as likely to be that they were all simply bored and wanting something to pass the time.

Some of the others had stayed behind, however -- Even and Ienzo in particular remained in their makeshift lab to keep working. Though Ienzo was tempted to go watch Terra wipe the floor with Lea, he had decided against it. He had more important things to do, and he didn’t have time for...childish things. Even if he wanted to.

Then again, the way Even had been glancing at him every so often was beginning to get on his nerves -- what was he thinking? It wasn’t like the older of the two was very good at expressing...well, much of anything, but he _could_ refrain from watching him like that. It was unnerving.

Though...a small part of Ienzo had to wonder. Years ago, before all this had happened, Even had all but raised him. Though Ansem had taken him in when his parents had died, the king was eternally far too busy to raise a child. So he’d asked his sole apprentice at the time, Even, to take up child-caring duties for him. The scientist hadn’t been happy, but did as he was told -- and though it took a rather rocky start and a good few mishaps, Ienzo had to admit that back then, he’d considered Even almost a second -- or third, if one counted Ansem -- father. 

Ansem had cared deeply for Ienzo, he knew that, but he’d been...more of a kind uncle in behavior than father. He hadn’t been _there_ enough, as much as Ienzo had cared about him. He was gifts of ice cream and storytelling, word puzzles and trips to the garden’s holiday festivals -- Even had been the one to teach him what a parent should.

But..after they’d lost their hearts, it had all changed. He’d grown up too fast, perhaps, and though he didn’t regret it (it had been what he’d had to do), he...certainly had stopped treating Vexen like a parent, hadn’t he? More of a nuisance than anything. He’d been closer to Lexaeus -- his silence and patience and acceptance of Zexion’s desire for independence had been welcome. The whole dynamic had changed, really...and Castle Oblivion had been the climax of the whole thing. None of them had remained who they’d been, and now that they had their hearts back…

Aeleus and Dilan had never been anything but friends, he knew that -- they didn’t have anything to work out. And Aeleus, well...no one could say he wasn’t easy to get along with. He doubted any of them needed to reevaluate their friendships with him. Dilan hadn’t been close with Even or Ienzo to begin with, but then…

That left Even and Ienzo themselves. 

Ienzo sighed, pushing his chair back and standing from the table he’d been bent over, studying the armload of Xemnas’s journals Terra had given him to study. “Even,” he said, only halfway managing to hide his irritation -- he let out a breath and tried again, softer this time. “Even, I can see you staring at me. If there’s something you’d like to talk about, then say it.”

Even jolted from his spot across the room fiddling with the computers. “Ienzo?” He asked, startled, and then sighed, thin frame relaxing slightly -- he was like a series of taut rubber bands, Ienzo mused, or at least Vexen had been. Even...was loosening. Slowly, like the rest of them, getting used to feeling again in between their excursions, but steadily.

“Yes, I-- suppose there is,” Even admitted, straightening and crossing his arms protectively, almost shy. Ienzo can’t blame him. Vexen and Zexion really hadn’t treated each other well, had they? Spitting at each other like angry cats most of the time, Zexion sarcastic and authoritative and Vexen frazzled, paranoid, and wound too tight. The relief and affection they’d felt after realizing they were whole was a bandage upon the rift between them, but hadn’t mended it. 

“Go on then,” Ienzo urged. “Nothing will get resolved if you keep silent.” A parent’s advice to a child; how ironic.

Even sighed again. “I-- very well, then,” he said, and let out a long breath, as if steadying himself for the conversation to come. “The recent... _mission_ , I suppose, gave me a few things to think about. And I…”

“And you...what?” Ienzo prompted, though part of him wasn’t sure he wanted to know where this was going.

“I was...thinking,” Even continued hesitantly, “that it was far past time that we spoke about…us, for lack of a better qualifier.” He relaxed slightly after that, as if it had been that which he’d been almost afraid to say.

Ienzo sighed. “I was thinking something similar,” he admitted. “It’s…we do have a lot to talk about.”

Even looked relieved, but his expression fell into something more resembling remorse not too long after. “I...feel I need to apologize,” he began. “For a great many things, but-- for being unable to protect you most of all. Castle Oblivion was-- I was a fool, and…”

Ienzo frowned. “I’m fairly certain I forgive you for much of what you feel you need to apologize for,” he said. “But being unable to protect me? In the beginning, perhaps, but...not after a while, and especially not at Castle Oblivion. What happened there was certainly not anything to do with that.” 

A lie, of a sort. Yes, Vexen’s replica Riku had been what killed Zexion, but that had been thanks to encouragement from Axel -- and he’d already discussed _that_ with Lea. Vexen, and therefore Even, had nothing to do with that.

“I suppose, but--” Even replied. “It was my _duty_ to protect you. My-- ah, _Vexen’s_ death notwithstanding, I should have been able to…”

Ienzo’s frown deepened. “Again, Even; in the beginning, yes, but by that point I was more than capable of protecting myself,” he said, irritation building. “I’m not a child anymore. What happened to me in Castle Oblivion is on _me_ , not on you.” Was he _still_ dwelling on this? 

“Whether or not you’re a child isn’t the point,” Even insisted. “The point is that I was supposed to take care of you, _protect_ you, and I failed.”

“And I keep telling you that after a while, I didn’t _need_ protection,” Ienzo snapped, finally letting annoyance get the best of him. “Is this what you wanted to talk about? Because I know we’ve discussed this before, and it’s always the same.”

Even let out a huff. “That was before you _died!”_ He snapped back, before subsiding slightly. “You died, and I couldn’t do anything about it, because I was dead.”

_“Yes,_ and I know we’ve both already discussed _that_ with Lea,” Ienzo said flatly. “What happened to me would have happened regardless, Even, so stop blaming yourself for it. I _didn’t need_ _protection._ ”

Even seemed to have only zeroed in on part of Ienzo’s words. “What does Lea have to do with your-- did he hurt you?!” He snarled. “I’ll kill him, I swear I will. I’m one thing, but _you--”_

_“Even!”_ Ienzo hissed, but his voice rose as he continued. “He might have, but only indirectly, and as I said, I’ve talked it over with him! Don’t you _dare_ confront him about any of this!” Lea had other things to worry about, anyway. “And besides which, I don’t need you to defend my honor like-- I can handle things myself! I’m nearly _twenty_ , Even, I’m not a little boy you need to coddle!”

_“Yes,_ you _are!”_ Even returned, his own voice rising. “You are a child, and you are _my_ child, and you always _will be!_ Just because you can handle things yourself doesn’t mean you have to!”

Ienzo didn’t stay to continue the conversation further -- as soon as Even’s last words faded from the air, he spun on his heel to storm out, slamming the kitchen door behind him as hard as he could -- maybe, pettily, he used his illusions to magnify the sound, but that was irrelevant.

He _wasn’t_ a child, how _dare_ Even treat him like one even now! Hadn’t the last decade proven he was capable? Hadn’t the last two week or so proven that? He’d helped fight _Xehanort_ , for the love of-- he let out an angry hiss and slammed the heel of his hand on the elevator button to go to his room, still bristling. He’d show him. He’d prove to him and anyone else that he wasn’t a little boy anymore. He _wasn’t_.

\----------------

The next day, they were all called down -- not by the paper birds, this time, but by the alarm system. Even had somehow managed to rig it so that he could use it as an intercom, apparently, and it had the group heading down into the lab, not a few wondering why Ienzo hadn’t been the one to call them.

The answer was given, partially, when they arrived and noticed Ienzo half-perched on one of the counters as far away from Even as he could get without it being too conspicuous. Terra, at least, was able to pick up on it, and so was Aeleus, who sighed and shook his head, giving Even a look.

Even returned the look with an annoyed one of his own, sighing. “Well,” he began. “We’ve got a new signal being picked up -- a world fairly far away, almost on the outskirts of known space, it’s--”

Ienzo stood, cutting him off and glancing at Terra. “I’ll wait for you in the lobby,” he said flatly, and left, leaving the others to stare off after him in wonder.

“Well, that’s not a good sign,” Lea said. “I, uh, think I’ll sit this one out.” He winced slightly when Even gave him a murderous look, edging behind Isa.

“Yes, well,” Even continued. “The signal is...unusual, I suppose. It’s not darkness -- well, not entirely. Not enough to be a Heartless presence. The signal is a powerful magical signal, which given that the equipment isn’t calibrated to pick up on that...says something. It could be worth investigating. Terra, what say you?”

Terra looked thoughtful, and nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Aqua’s always been a real powerful mage, so it might be her. And even if it isn’t, we might be able to get some information from whoever’s givin’ off the signal. What’s the world called?”

“Ah--” Even glanced at the screen. “Storybrooke, apparently. I’ve never heard of it.”

Terra shrugged. “Either way, it’s definitely worth a look,” he said, before turning to the group. “Who, uh...who wants to come with Ienzo and me?”

There was an extended quiet, none of them seeming to want to go with Ienzo while he was so clearly in a terrible mood, before Relena raised her hand. “I volunteer to tag along with you and Sourpuss,” she said with a mischievous grin. “Whatever’s going on with him, it’ll probably make things entertaining.”

Everyone else looked a little pale, and it was clear that made them want to go along even less. Aeleus, though, leaned over to Dilan and nudged him. “Go with them,” he murmured. “Terra will need help dealing with Ienzo while he’s in that kind of a mood on top of Relena.”

“Then you go,” Dilan said irritably. “He likes you better.”

Aeleus smiled wryly. “Yes, normally, but I know why he’s angry, and I won’t be any help.” Ienzo hadn’t said anything, but the dynamic between him and Even wasn’t exactly hard to read, and this very same argument had happened before. Aeleus was well aware Ienzo wouldn’t want to deal with him at the moment.

_“Fine,”_ Dilan grumbled. “I suppose I’ve been stir-crazy, anyway.” He glanced at Terra, who shrugged and gave the other man a faint smile.

The three of them headed up to join Ienzo, Terra muttering a quiet thanks to Dilan, who brushed it off, and in an awkward silence, headed off to Storybrooke -- whatever that would bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you ever have a plan for a chapter and then your character's inner monologue hijacks it an you're like "ienzo shut up" but he doesn't shut up? Well, yeah. Ienzo really. 
> 
> But anyway, insight into his head, and whoops he's not happy. 
> 
> And yes, yes, they're going to Storybrooke -- and for those who don't know, that's the town from the tv show _Once Upon A Time_ , whose whole thing is hearts and light and darkness and it's also ABC so fight me it's allowed. It'll be fun!


	29. Welcome to Storybrooke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to town, indeed -- this seems to be a very special world, with very interesting people. And they have their own set of problems, but for the moment, it seems they can lend a hand.
> 
> _"If people are supposed to be together, they find a way."_

The corridor led them to what seemed at first like a sleepy little town, near empty, with a main street lined with storefronts. They stood in front of an old building, shuttered, with a clock tower on its roof. It looked normal, but...almost _too_ normal, in a way.

Ienzo’s expression shifted almost immediately from irritation to curiosity. “This place reeks of magic,” he said quietly. “It’s _everywhere_ , almost built into the town itself. I’ve never seen this much, and this _powerful_...whoever did this must be--” Either someone very, very good or someone very, very bad. One would hope, Ienzo mused, it’s the former.

“Well, whatever the case,” Terra said. “We should probably at least try to find them. They might be able to help us.”

Relena shrugged. “I mean, if they don’t try to kill us, sure,” she said sarcastically. Dilan let out a sigh, rubbing his forehead.

“We’ll deal with that if it happens,” he muttered. Part of him hoped it did, if just to let him have a fight. On the other hand, it would be a blessing to have a _peaceful_ mission for once.

The four of them started walking down the sidewalk, bemused at how quiet the place was -- the town seemed almost empty, but that couldn’t be the case. There was source, somewhere, something that caused this much magic, right? And aside from that, the stores seemed open, and there were cars along the road. Perhaps there were just far fewer people living here than would usually be in a town this size. It still didn’t explain the magic, Ienzo mused, trying not to wrinkle his nose at how powerful the smell was, but...it was worth coming up with theories until they could ask someone.

A few minutes later, they finally came across someone else in the town -- a teenage boy (well either teenaged or _almost_ teenaged) turning a corner, a bag slung across his shoulder. He almost skidded to a halt when he saw them, eyes widening slightly, before confusion shifted to realization and curiosity.

He darted across the street towards them, questions already tumbling out almost before he reached them. “You’re not from Storybrooke!” He said. “How did you get here? Are you from the Enchanted Forest? No, that doesn’t make sense, you don’t look like it...where are you from? Are you under a spell? Did you--” He cut himself off after a second, looking a bit amused.

“Sorry,” he said. “Just-- come with me, okay? It’s safe, I promise.” He turned and and motioned for them to follow, heading down the street and towards a small, homey apartment complex. Terra and the others exchanged puzzled looks, but followed him anyway -- he seemed to at least know what was going on here, even if he seemed a bit too curious to explain it properly; in all likelihood he was taking them to people who could. 

The boy unlocked the door to the apartment and was through it almost before Terra and the others hit the hallway, so by the time they got to the doorway, it seemed as if the others in the house knew there were guests from outside Storybrooke. Ienzo had to give the boy credit -- he clearly knew exactly what to do when strangers arrived, even if he was young.

There were four others in the house the boy had brought them to, and it was the petite woman with short dark hair who spoke up first. “Well, you really aren’t from Storybrooke,” she said, sounding surprised. Their confusion must still have shown on their faces, because she smiled faintly. “And I guess you don’t even know what Storybrooke _is_ , exactly.”

“No, ma’am,” Terra said politely, a little embarrassed but trying to be polite -- at least he remembered how to do _that_. “My name’s Terra, uh--” He hesitated a moment, unsure if he should tell them what he was, but decided that it wouldn’t hurt, considering this town was almost made of magic, if Ienzo was right. There was a chance _someone_ would know. “I’m what’s called a Keybearer. My friends and I ended up here while looking for someone; we didn’t mean to cause any trouble, if we did…”

The woman laughed. “Oh, no, you didn’t,” she reassured him. “Not that trouble isn’t normal for us. We’re actually grateful for something relatively harmless showing up for once.”

“I’ve heard of Keybearers,” one of the men said, a handsome, almost roguish looking man leaning against the counter. “Warriors pure of heart, wielding weapons to banish the darkness, something like that. Not an unusual legend, really, but I never expected to _meet_ one.” He snorted. “Then again, with how much has happened to us, it was going to happen sooner or later.”

Terra stifled a snort. “We’re not so common these days,” he admitted. “So it’s probably more coincidence than anything that we ended up here. Wherever here is, I mean.” He glanced at the dark-haired woman. “You wouldn’t mind explaining? My friend Ienzo noticed how much magic seems to be around here…”

Ienzo looked a bit embarrassed when all eyes turned to him, and nodded. “I, ah, have a bit of a talent for magic,” he admitted. “Though really, it was...very noticeable. I was meaning to ask about it as it is, but…”

The blonde woman in the room snorted. “It’s a long story,” she said. “But the short version is the Evil Queen put a curse on the Enchanted Forest, and all its denizens ended up here in Storybrooke, a magical town created by the Curse.” She shrugged. “There’s a lot more than that, but you probably don’t want to be here a few hours listening to the Swan and Mills Family History.”

That made Relena stifle a laugh, but Terra frowned. “A curse? Is that…?”

“Don’t worry about it, Terra,” the black-haired woman reassured him. “It’s...complicated, but it’s worked out, for the most part.” She paused. “Oh, we haven’t even-- I’m Mary Margaret,” she said. “This is my husband, David, and our daughter Emma.”

Emma chuckled. “Like I said, complicated,” she put in at the others’ reactions. “This is Killian,” she added, waving at the roguish man. “And my son, Henry.”

The two groups exchanged pleasantries, and Ienzo spoke up. “A curse that created an entire _town?_ ” He asked. “I-- if it’s not something you want to talk about, I understand, but I have to admit I’m incredibly curious. I’ve never heard of something like that before.”

“Regina could probably answer most of your questions,” Mary Margaret said. “She’s the one who cast it first-- but she’s alright now,” she added off Terra’s expression. “She’s redeemed-- well, _redeeming_ herself.”

“She’s my mom, too,” Henry added. “Which...makes things even more complicated, but I’m used to it by now.”

Ienzo could understand that, in a way -- he had, in all honesty, two completely unrelated fathers. Three, if you counted his biological one. But thinking of Even only soured his mood, and he stepped out of the conversation as Terra and the others started discussing the mission proper with Mary Margaret’s group. He didn’t really pay much attention to the conversation, knowing generally what it would be about, and he remained lost in his thoughts until Henry sits on the counter next to him, looking curious.

“Hi,” he said. “Ienzo, right? I figured I could ask you more about Terra and the others, since you’re not part of the conversation over there.”

Ienzo blinked, and then smiled. “That’s fine with me,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind answering some questions.”

Henry grinned. “Cool,” he said. “Terra’s a Keybearer, right? I know Killian said they’re supposed to be pure of heart, which makes sense, but there’s something about Terra…”

“It’s a bit of a long story,” Ienzo admitted. “But the shortest version is that Terra was possessed, once, by a villain named Xehanort, and though Terra is free now, Xehanort left his mark on Terra’s heart.”

Henry frowned, glancing over at Terra. “That’s terrible,” he said. “I guess Xehanort is the guy you guys are fighting?” Ienzo nodded. “Though either way, I don’t think it should matter. Grandma has a pure heart, but Mom...well, _both_ my moms recently, they don’t, but Emma-Mom is still a Savior.” He paused with a grin. “And my other mom _was_ the Evil Queen, and she’s kind of a hero now, so...I think Terra will be okay.”

Ienzo laughed. “You really _do_ have a fairly complicated family tree, don’t you?” He asked, and Henry snorted, rolling his eyes as if to say ‘you said it’.

“What about the others, uh, Relena and Dilan?” Henry asked.

“I don’t know Relena all that well,” Ienzo admitted. “But Dilan was a palace guard in the, ah...the kingdom he and I are both from.”

Henry perked up at that. “Your kingdom?” He asked. “Tell me about that? What was it like?”

“Well,” Ienzo began slowly. “It was a kingdom called Radiant Garden. Dilan and our friend Aeleus were royal guards, while my...guardian, Even, was an apprentice scholar to the king, Ansem.” He hesitated a moment. “My parents worked for Ansem too, but they passed away when I was little and Ansem took me in as his ward. He was busy much of the time, so…Even took care of me instead.”

Henry grinned. “So that makes you a prince,” he said.

“No, I--” Ienzo protested. “I’m not blood related, I wouldn’t be...but then again, he was never married, and he didn’t have any children...” He sighed. “I guess so, in a manner of speaking. I haven’t thought about it much. Our kingdom fell to Darkness ten years ago, and though its people are putting it back together, I...haven’t been home since.”

“I’m sorry,” Henry said quietly. “A lot of people in Storybrooke lost their homes, in a lot of different ways. I don’t think it’s ever easy.” He paused, shifting to look at Ienzo. “Ten years ago?” He asked. “How old are you?”

Ienzo coughed. “Nineteen, actually,” he said. “Or almost nineteen, it’s a little hard to remember exactly.”

“Wow,” Henry said. “I’m fifteen, and it’s been...five years, I think, since I went and got mom and brought her to Storybrooke. It feels a lot longer though, doesn’t it?” 

Ienzo laughed quietly. “Yes, it certainly does,” he agreed.

“We had to grow up pretty quick, I guess,” Henry mused quietly, and something in his voice made Ienzo think there was more than just the usual meaning behind that. He glanced at Ienzo. “But I don’t think having to grow up means you have to grow up _all_ the way,” he added with an almost knowing look on his face.

Ienzo reddened, realizing that he might be a little more obvious than he thought he was; or at least, that Henry was far more observant than he’d expected. Before he could respond, though, Terra called out to him.

“Ienzo,” he said. “Emma and the others are going to take us to someone else that might be able to give us some help, do you want to come along?”

Ienzo paused, glancing at Henry -- who raised an eyebrow at him in a manner Ienzo knew very well -- and shook his head. “I’ll stay and keep Henry company,” he replied, and Terra nodded.

“Alright,” he said, and grinned slightly, adding a teasing “Keep out of trouble,” before the group left.

As soon as they were gone, Henry hopped off the counter and grabbed his bag. “C’mon, Ienzo,” he said. “Let’s go meet my other mom. You wanted to ask her about the Dark Curse, right? She can tell you about it, and she knows a _lot_ of magic aside from that. I bet you’ll have a lot to talk about.”

Ienzo had to laugh. “I see you tend not to keep out of trouble when told, either,” he said with amusement, and nodded, following Henry out the door. “I’d love to meet her,” he added. “Lead the way, Henry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand welcome to Storybrooke! For reference, this is taking place at the end of Season 5 -- after the whole fiasco with Hyde and Zelena and everything else is over, but _before_ Regina uses the serum. I settled it nebulously there because season 6 is only half over, so this felt like a nice, safe spot to settle this.
> 
> There will be no boss fight in this world! Just talking and getting advice and help and MacGuffins. It's a very important place, though, for those reasons. You'll see~
> 
> ~~meanwhile i'm very nervous about my writing of these guys, but henry is fun to write!~~


	30. A Beast, A Beauty, and A Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We split up the party briefly -- Terra and the others go to visit a certain pawn shop and its owner, while Ienzo and Henry go visit his...other mother; you know, the evil queen.
> 
> _"All magic comes with a price."_

Emma and the rest of her group took Terra and the others to the other side of town, where a small pawn shop stood almost innocuously. _Almost_ \-- Terra could feel the Darkness there, but though it was strong and unnerving, it didn’t feel like Xehanort’s. He knew that Darkness, of course, didn’t necessarily mean evil, and that Emma and the others thought whoever this was might be able to help meant something, but part of him still...well. He knew it was that part of him that was still a scared kid, afraid of his own heart. Ten years didn’t change _everything,_ and even if he was more confident now, more accepting, it didn’t kill that fear entirely.

The group entered the place (and had to squish in a little, though Mary Margaret, David, and Killian declined to come in, instead waiting outside), and the woman at the counter looked up and smiled. “Emma,” she greeted warmly, coming around the place. “If you’re here, I suppose it’s business, then. I know no one visits him for pleasure.”

Emma snorted. “No one except _you_ ,” she said affectionately, before turning to the others. “This is Terra; he and his friends came here from another land, and apparently the problem they’re dealing with is...well, safe to say I figured Gold might have some advice.”

The woman laughed. “Except me,” she agreed, before turning to Terra, Relena, and Dilan. “It’s a pleasure, Terra,” she said. “Welcome to Storybrooke -- oh, dear, don’t touch that,” she added to Relena, who was peering at some things on the shop’s shelves. “Best not to touch...anything here, really. I don’t actually know what most of it _does_.”

Relena retracted her hand quickly, coughing. “Right then, no touching,” she agreed. 

“In any case, you’re here to see Rumpel,” she said, starting to turn. “I’ll just-- oh. Well, nevermind.” She cut herself off mid-sentence, smiling slightly at the man who’d entered the storefront from the doorway leading to the back. Terra knew instantly that this was the source of the Darkness, and up close, he almost thought it rivalled Xehanort’s in power. But as strong as it was, it wasn’t quite as _dark_ as the old Master’s. Tempered, almost, with age.

The man’s eyes flickered across his guests and settled on Terra, and the look in them made a chill run down his spine. It wasn’t openly malicious, but it was curious and amused, and he had a feeling he’d seen that look before, on Maleficent, on Hook, on Hades, on the Queen...assessing him and his weaknesses frankly and openly.

“Interesting,” the man -- Rumpel? -- noted. “I’ve met one or two Keybearers in my time, but none quite like _you,_ my friend. I had always assumed the power was given only to those _without_ Darkness.”

Before he could continue, the dark-haired woman swatted him on the arm. “Don’t _scare_ him,” she scolded. “He needs our _help_.” She turned to Terra with a look of bemused apology. “I’m sorry, that’s a bad habit of his.”

“It’s fine,” Terra said with a chuckle. “It wouldn’t be the first time. I’m used to it.” 

Rumpel, or Gold, or whatever he was called, sighed, a little put out by being scolded (and very clearly ruining whatever air of danger and mystery he was going for). “Very well, I’ll stop if you insist,” he said, a little sarcastically, before sobering. “My point remains in that it’s very rare to see a Keybearer these days. What bring you to our little corner of the worlds?”

“Long story,” Terra admitted. “There’s a man named Xehanort, a Keyblade Master, and...well, he’s ruined a lot of lives, and he plans to try to recreate the Keyblade War. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but...that’s the shortest version I can give.”

Gold looked visibly soured at that. “Always _someone_ playing with fire,” he muttered to himself. “Fine,” he said. “There might be something I can do. I know war, and I’m not naive enough to think that the fool’s Darkness won’t reach this far sooner or later if something isn’t done.”

“Someone’s possessive,” Emma said wryly. “But then again, _Dark One_ , I can’t imagine you’re pleased with someone putting on airs.”

The dark-haired woman stifled a laugh and Gold looked annoyed for a brief moment, before snorting. “Of _course_ not,” he said. “If he thinks he’ll go entirely unopposed even by others who use the Darkness, he must be more of an idiot than he’s already proven himself to be.”

“Thank you,” Terra said earnestly, earning him looks of almost fond sympathy from the dark-haired woman and Emma. “Any help you can give is appreciated.”

The two of them -- and Emma -- started discussing in more detail Xehanort and the worlds, while Relena and Dilan glanced over at the dark-haired woman.

“Oh, I should introduce myself,” she said with a laugh. “I’m Belle. Emma mentioned Terra’s name, but not yours…?”

“I’m Relena, and that’s Dilan,” Relena said with a winning smile. “Our fourth, Ienzo, is hanging out with Emma’s kid.”

“Oh, Henry? That’s good. Sometimes I worry that he doesn’t have many friends his age around here but Violet…” Belle mused, then paused, glancing over at Dilan. “Is something the matter?”

Relena glanced over at him too, and then her eyebrows rose as she put two and two together. She grinned at Dilan and backed off with a perky wave, going over to peer at one of the display cases with weapons in it.

“I…” Dilan began. Well, how was he supposed to explain this? He wasn’t sure how much or how little these people know about other worlds, and aside from that, how was he supposed to explain about the _other_ Belle? The one whose beast showed his nature in fur and horns and claws, not Darkness and humorless smiles. “It’s rather complicated, I suppose,” he admitted finally. “There is, out there, another land, with...another woman named Belle, who I can’t imagine is that different from yourself.”

Belle’s eyebrows rose, but she didn’t seem to disbelieve him. “It would be far from the strangest tale I’ve heard,” she admits. “Our stories are well-known, passed down in Lands Without Magic, and...I don’t think my tale is the only version. I don’t know as much as some, but...I won’t question it too much.” She crossed her arms. “And...I imagine from your reaction, you and this other Belle aren’t on the best terms?”

“No,” Dilan admitted. “For...a long time, I wasn’t…” He couldn’t find the words, but Belle seemed to understand. “And it’s...safe to say that I gave that Belle and her beast a very hard time, to say the least. They’re safe now, but..”

“But you don’t know how to apologize?” Belle suggested. “It seems that whatever Darkness had you is gone now, isn’t it? In that case, if she’s anything like me...if you mean your apology, she’ll accept it.” She glanced behind her at Gold with a fond smile. “We’re good at seeing the best in people, even those who can’t see it in themselves.”

Dilan paused, and then managed a quiet smile. “Thank you,” he said. “I’ll...keep that in mind, for when this is over.”

“You _should_ ,” Belle said admonishingly, though there was a smile on her face. “Don’t let a chance for forgiveness pass you by.”

He sighed, returning the smile awkwardly. “I’ll try not to.”

\----------

Henry led Ienzo to a house across town, what seemed like the fanciest house in Storybrooke, or one of them. White, two-storied, with a balcony over the door...it was the closest thing Ienzo assumed this world had to a palace; just a mansion, but still. Henry _had_ said Regina was the Evil Queen, once upon a time.

“Mom’s the mayor,” Henry said offhandedly as Ienzo studied the house. “And she was a queen in the Enchanted Forest. And my other mom didn’t grow up there, but my grandparents were royalty…I’m still not sure if that means I count as a prince or not.” He grinned at Ienzo. “Guess we have that in common, too.”

“Seems like it,” Ienzo noted, amused, and followed Henry inside. 

When they got in, Henry removed his bag and put it on one of the end tables -- the flap opened, and Ienzo caught a glimpse of a book within it, bound in brown leather and surrounded by enough magic to make Ienzo pause. “What’s that, Henry?”

“What’s wh-- oh,” Henry said, returning to the bag and taking the book out properly to show him; the cover read _‘Once Upon A Time…’_ in elegant gold lettering, and it looked old and well-read. “It’s my book. Uh, _the_ book, I suppose.”

_“The_ book?” Ienzo asked. “I can tell it’s magical, but...”

Henry nodded. “It is. It’s…” He searched for some words. “Well, you see, a little while ago I was given the power of something called the Author, who can record and rewrite people’s stories. This book is, uh...the Author’s book.” He shook his head. “I haven’t really used it in a while, and I don’t want to. It’s been misused too many times.”

“I can understand that,” Ienzo agreed. “That kind of power shouldn’t be used lightly. But I have a feeling that knowing that is exactly why you were chosen.”

“You aren’t the first person to tell me that,” Henry said with a faint smile, returning the book to his bag.

Ienzo watched him do so, before glancing back at him. “I have a magical book, of a sort,” he says -- and for once, he doesn’t mean the lexicon. He wasn’t sure what prompted this admission, but once he started talking, he couldn’t stop. It was...something he supposed he needed to talk about eventually. “I made it when I was a child, with magic. I’d just lost my parents, and I was...very lonely,” he said slowly. “It was a book that held a miniature world in it, and I would go into it when I was sad. The characters in it were...toys, stuffed animals, and I played with them all the time until I got older, and…”

“And Darkness took your world,” Henry finished sadly. “Do you know if the book’s still there?”

“I’d like to think so,” Ienzo said. “I...hope so. It is a magical book, so I’d like to think that kept it safe.” He sighed. “It was called _The Hundred Acre Woods_ ,” he told Henry. “There was a stuffed bear, and I remember I promised him I’d see him again…”

“I’m sure you will,” Henry reassured him. “People always have a way of finding their way back to things special to them. Just ask my grandparents.”

Ienzo laughed, and then fell silent for a moment. “I...sometimes I do miss my childhood,” he said suddenly -- something he’d thought, once or twice, but never admitted to himself before now. “I was eight when I lost my world, and since then, I...sometimes I wish I could go back to that. But I can’t, not really, not if I want to be taken seriously.”

“I get that,” Henry agreed. “But sometimes it’s okay, I think. I can take care of myself, and you can, too, probably, but...our parents are always gonna worry. Sometimes you have to let them worry. You don’t have to grow up _completely_ , you know. I don’t think that ever ends well. Being a kid sometimes is okay.”

“I’ll...try to remember that,” Ienzo said. “I know my adoptive father worries, but it just feels...it feels condescending. I don’t think he means it that way, but I just react before I can think about it.”

“That happens,” Henry said. “I know sometimes I get really frustrated with my moms for the same reason. But sometimes they have a point, you know? And parents worry, it’s their thing. I dunno your situation, but maybe it might be nice to just let him worry and take care of you once in awhile. I don’t think he’ll take you any less seriously, and it might help both of you.”

Ienzo sighed -- he was right, though, wasn’t he? Even knew how smart he was, and so did Aeleus. They’d always listened to what he’d had to say before, why should it be different if...he’d have to think about that.

“Come on, we still have to talk to Mom,” Henry said with a grin, distracting him from his thoughts with a gentle elbow to his upper arm.

Henry looked around the first floor a moment, before darting up the stairs and into an office. Ienzo followed -- albeit trailing behind -- and entered the room to see Henry speaking to a dark-haired woman. Ienzo could smell the Darkness on her, but more than that, she smelled of magic, and powerful magic at that. Her own aura was apples and winter air, he noted, and she seemed to notice him noticing her.

“Henry tells me you came here with a Keybearer,” Regina said, leaning against the desk with her arms crossed. “I’ve never met one, but I’ve heard of them -- I don’t suppose he’s here for me, is he?”

Ienzo stifled a soft laugh. “No, he’s not,” he said. “Dealing with our own personal villain led us here out of curiosity, for the most part, and help, I suppose. I stayed with Henry while Emma took the rest of my group to meet someone else.”

“Gold, I’d imagine,” Regina said, sounding a little dismissive. “I _suppose_ he has more experience with Keybearers than I would, but…” She glanced at Henry. “And I don’t suppose you told Emma that you were going to take your new friend visiting, did you?”

Henry just smiled back. “No, but you’re my mom, too, so I didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.”

“That’s our boy,” Regina said approvingly, before stepping forward to offer her hand to Ienzo. “You can call me Regina,” she said. “You are?”

“Ienzo,” he replied, shaking her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Regina. I was told that you’re the source of the magic this town’s made of, in a way? I could sense it as soon as we arrived, and I have to admit I was curious.”

Regina looked proud, and a bit impressed. “Yes,” she said. “That was me -- well, the first time. Not one of my finest moments in retrospect, given the circumstances, but still, considering how complicated the Dark Curse is, it’s at least something to be _mechanically_ proud of.” 

She studied him a moment. “That you picked up on it at your age,” she said, sounding interested. “You must be quite the prodigy, aren’t you?”

“I like to think so,” Ienzo said, trying not to sound too smug.

Regina laughed. “Well, the honesty’s refreshing,” she said, before smiling in a way that made Ienzo both slightly intimidated and more than a little curious. “So, your own personal villain, mm? I don’t suppose you’d be averse to learning a few tricks from a formerly Evil queen? I may be reformed, but you can’t deny that a few things I know might be useful.”

“Well,” Ienzo said, returning her smile. “I have to agree with that. Who better to help fight the Darkness than a former villain, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT'S THAT, OUAT WRITERS? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF RUMBELLE NOT GETTING SCREWED OVER. I mean, uh. Ignore me, I have ship Opinions and seasons 5 and 6a were not good to my OTP.
> 
> In the meantime, here enjoy some interesting conversations, the real reason I brought Dilan along, and some personal Ienzo headcanon I hope you enjoy :)


	31. Visit's End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gifts are given, (thankfully) no deals are struck, and it's time to go, with thanks for the help fading in the air. A short trip, but a useful one.
> 
> _"No matter what you do, I will always find you."_

After Terra had explained the whole situation to Gold -- at this point, he was pretty sure he’d figured out the fastest way to tell it all, given how many times he’d done it -- the man had looked thoughtful a moment, before disappearing into the back. Eventually, he returned, bringing with him a small square case.

Emma looked bemused when she saw it, but let Gold open it to reveal three vials of a bright red liquid. Gold tapped the lid in thought a few times, before taking two of the vials and handing them to Terra, who slipped them in his pocket.

“Use those wisely,” he said, a hint of an almost warning smile playing on his face. “They separate the good and evil -- Light and Darkness -- in the drinker, rather... _literally_. For you, it might just be what you’re looking for. And the other, well, it seems as though it might work in your favor against that Xehanort idiot.”

Terra nodded, thanking him, and glanced at the third vial, only for Gold to snap the lid shut. “That one is...on reserve, for whenever she decides to deal with her own problem,” Gold said mildly, sliding the case underneath the counter. “Luckily you get my help free of charge, just this once, but keep in mind that if you need it again, there _will_ be a price.”

“I’ll remember that,” Terra said, resolving never to ask him for help again -- not that he didn’t appreciate it, or that he didn’t... _trust_ Gold (he didn’t, but he trusted Emma), but he simply didn’t want to worry about what kind of price a man called the Dark One would have. He’d dealt with too many villains for that.

Transaction complete, Emma invited Terra and the others to dinner at Mary Margaret’s; that done, the group all headed back, Relena teasing Dilan about his conversation with Belle mercilessly (until Dilan glared her into reluctant submission).

Emma trailed to a stop in front of the apartment building, looking fondly exasperated, and the others stopped behind her. Regina was leaning against the wall, and Henry and Ienzo were beside her. Terra waved at Ienzo, who waved back, and Emma headed over to them, giving Henry an aggressive hair ruffle.

“Oh, you two totally didn’t go get into trouble while we were gone,” she said sarcastically. “Why am I not surprised? Hey, Regina.”

“Hello, Swan,” Regina said with a faint smile. “I’m sure Henry’s old enough to cross the street without us at this point.”

“I’m not questioning that,” Emma said with a snort. “Just let me know you’re gonna be running around next time, ‘kay?”

“Got it, mom,” Henry agreed, glancing over at Ienzo with a significant look on his face before turning to Terra and the others. “This is my other mom, Regina.”

“Hey,” Terra said, offering his hand. Regina took it, glancing him up and down.

“Somehow I got the impression Keybearers would all look like Charming over there in all his fresh-faced gosh-wow hero glory,” she said dryly. “You’re not what I expected.”

“Well,” Terra laughed. “Let’s just say sending a naive, gullible kid with knee-jerk respect for authority out to deal with villains wasn’t the best idea my master ever had and leave it at that for now.”

The group from Storybrooke shared a laugh, and Regina snorted. “Speaking as a former villain, no, that was quite frankly a _terrible_ idea. I know I would have taken _full_ advantage of that.”

“You -- or, uh, a version of you -- probably did,” Terra admitted. “I’m pretty sure my bumbling trip through the worlds I visited were a laundry list of ‘dumb kid gets duped by every single villain he meets’.”

Emma laughed. “Ouch,” she said. “Well, we can’t all have easy lives, right? I think it’s some unwritten fairytale law that heroes’ lives have to suck at least a little.”

“Oh, seconding that for sure,” Mary Margaret said with a smile. “Heroes have to overcome adversity, I know, but...sometimes I wish there was a little _less_ adversity in our lives.”

Ienzo laughed. “Oh, I think we can all agree on _that_.”

The group went upstairs, and crowded around the living room area in the apartment while Mary Margaret -- with some help from David, who she recruited -- made dinner.

“We would help,” Emma told them. “Like Gold said, someone like this Xehanort puts us in danger, too -- if he succeeds, Darkness would come to Storybrooke -- but…” She shook her head. “We can’t leave. Well, most of us can’t. Henry and I are the only ones able to, but even then, we have our own constant barrage of problems.”

Terra shook his head. “I really appreciate that,” he said. “But you don’t have to. Like you said, you have your own problems here, and I wouldn’t want to leave this world without its heroes. Besides, Xehanort is...it’s kind of personal.”

“I think Terra would be doing it alone if we didn’t force him to let us along,” Ienzo said dryly. 

Regina snorted. “Yep, he’s a hero,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “They _all_ do that.”

“It’s cute, isn’t it?” Relena asked. “They’re all like ‘oh I’m a hero I have to protect the damsel’, and you can send them running around in circles like total doofuses.” She laughed. “I may have been a bad guy for a little while, and yeah, I’m not anymore, but…”

“It _was_ fun, sometimes,” Regina said with a grin. “I can’t deny that. It has a certain melodramatic flair to it, being a villain, but...don’t miss it, these days.” The two women exchanged commiserating looks, amused, and Dilan rolled his eyes. 

“I worry about you sometimes,” he told her, and Relena batted her eyelashes innocently, making Killian stifle a snort.

Regina sat back. “Honestly, I don’t think you’ll have much trouble,” she said. “I mean, one of the first things I _learned_ was how to remove someone’s heart and put it back. What is he, an amateur?” 

“It’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s actually...weirdly reassuring?” Terra ventured. “But then I think Keyblades make _everything_ more complicated.”

\--------

Dinner was uneventful, most of the time spent eating and carrying on conversations from before -- Killian and Terra seemed to get on better than anyone had expected, actually, and Relena and Regina continued to chat happily over their shared experiences as reformed (or reforming) villainesses. 

After dinner was over, Terra offered to help clean up -- the others went back over to the living room area, and Terra joined Mary Margaret and David in taking the plates and silverware back to the sink.

“You’re pretty domestic,” David noted to Terra, who laughed.

“Well, growin’ up it was just me, my master, and my friends Aqua and Ven,” he explained. “Since it was just four of us, we shared chores a lot. I never cooked, because I’m terrible at it, but I helped clean up all the time. It’s a habit.”

“Ven and Aqua are the two you’re looking for, right?” Mary Margaret asked. “If you grew up with them, I can see why you’re so worried. You must be close…”

Terra sighed, handing her a clean plate. “Yeah,” he said softly. “Ven didn’t arrive ‘til later, but Aqua and I were...can’t really remember _not_ having her around. I miss ‘em.”

David and Mary Margaret shared a look, and David put his hand on Terra’s shoulder. “As long as your heart is connected to theirs, you’ll find them,” he said. “You’ll always be able to find the ones you love.”

“Thank you,” Terra said gratefully. He’ll always find the ones he loves, huh…? He liked that. He put his hand over his heart a moment, wondering what Aqua was doing right now, before sighing to himself. “I just hope we find them before _he_ does.”

Meanwhile, Henry pulled Ienzo aside. “Hey, I have something for you before you leave,” he said.

“Oh?” Ienzo asked. “Is that why you disappeared somewhere before dinner?” Henry had just up and vanished when they’d gotten to the apartment, and didn’t appear again until the food had been on put the table. He hadn’t questioned it, but now he was curious.

“Yeah,” he said with a smile, and offered Ienzo a sheaf of papers inside a slightly battered school folder. Ienzo took it, flipping it open, and gasped quietly. Inside was a cover page of creamy paper, with an illustration of a small boy holding the hand of a yellow stuffed bear in a red shirt. _A Boy and His Bear_ , it said in neat handwriting above the illustration.

“This is--” Ienzo managed weakly, running a finger across the illustration and the familiar character in it.

“I wrote it as the Author,” Henry said. “For you. It’s not finished yet, though -- I don’t know how it ends. I decided to let that be up to you.” He smiled. “You’ll come back and tell me, though, right?”

Ienzo smiled back. “Of course I will,” he replied. “It might be a little while, but I’ll come back and tell you what happens. I promise.” He hesitated. “Thank you, Henry,” he added after a moment. Henry just grinned at him and nodded at the others, who were preparing to leave.

“Don’t mention it,” he said. “Just come back and visit, okay?”

“I will,” Ienzo said, and waved as he turned to leave alongside the others. Emma and the rest saw them off, and the four of them opened a corridor and headed back to the skyscraper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, but hey! The next one makes up for it. Just you wait <3
> 
> After this, the next arc is finally one of the two biggest arcs in the fic, so brace yourself~ It's gonna be a doozy.
> 
> Sorry in advance if the next few are slow, it's been a rough few days healthwise. Curse being a girl sometimes :/


	32. la rabbia si svegliò

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group returns to the Skyscraper, and Terra reflects; it's time to excise the final fragment of Xehanort from himself, face his own darkness -- face the Superior.

When the four of them got back to the hotel, there was an odd sort of silence that settled on them. They exchanged looks with Terra, and Dilan gave his arm a brotherly sort of nudge before they went inside and left Terra alone in the starlit courtyard in front of the skyscraper.

Terra sighed quietly, slipping a hand into his pocket to fish out one of the two vials Mr. Gold had given him. The red liquid sloshed slightly within it, and he stared at in for a long moment, stared at the reflection of his face in the glass, blue eyes the only familiar thing in a still-unfamiliar face, too old and framed with silver-white hair.

He’s struck with the sudden urge to throw the vial across the courtyard, break something, _hit_ something, the urge to _destroy_. It hit him hard and he clenched his fist against it, sucking in a breath. His temper...he knew he always had a temper, a bad one, one he’d always used to shove down and fight against and hide along with all the rougher edges he’d had, the ones Eraqus had disapproved of. The temper, the pride, the sharp tongue, the love of fighting...everything he’d once believed was of the Darkness, was wrong.

He knew better now, had learned in the hardest possible way, but it still shook him to feel that anger coiled tight inside like a taut rubber band waiting to snap. What was it directed at? Xehanort, for doing this, for manipulating and possessing him? Himself, for his naivete of ten years ago, how easily he’d been led astray? Eraqus, for being a good father but a terrible teacher, who’d hurt him in ways he’d only now begun to accept? This situation, this loss, this desperate search for friends he wasn’t even sure would recognize him? This face, the marks of the last decade choking out anything familiar, making him older and wiser and _he didn’t want this._

He’d _never_ wanted this. All he’d ever wanted was to be a Keyblade Master, to fight alongside his dearest friends. To make Eraqus proud of him. And now this was his life, struggling with the memories of ten years trapped within a heartless, cruel Nobody, struggling to lead a group of people he’d hurt due to his mistakes -- he was doing the best he could, he knew, and so far they didn’t seem to think he had messed up, but...he didn’t feel like it. Sure, they’d made it this far, but Braig still lay asleep in one of the many hotel rooms, his heart shattered. Aqua and Ven were still missing, and who only knew how much Aqua had suffered? Was it his curse to only be able to dwell on his failures? It figured.

He let out a snarl, shaking his head furiously and uncorking the vial, already striding back down the steps as he drank the potion down in one swig, summoning Aqua’s Keyblade in his free hand. Maybe it would do him good to literally beat himself up a bit.

At first he didn’t feel anything, for almost long enough to wonder if the potion hadn’t worked -- but then he let out a groan and doubled over, his eyes squeezing shut at the sudden wave of pain that spiked through him. He opened an eye a crack to see Darkness pouring from him, curling like smoke in waves as it rolled off him, coalescing into a figure with his height, his broad shoulders, black coat brushing the tops of his boots and orange eyes cold and judging.

“So,” Xemnas said, his deep voice sending a chill down Terra’s spine with how wrong it sounded coming from his mouth. “You seek to purge me from your heart, do you? A futile effort, and you know it. Darkness is burned deep into your being. There is no escape from what you have become.”

Terra lifted his Keyblade in response. “That’s what you think,” he replied. “I’m _Terra_ , no one else. I’m not Xemnas or Xehanort -- I’m _me_. I may have Darkness in me, yes, but it’s _mine_.”

Xemnas lifted his own hands, crimson ethereal blades sparking to life, their tips against the pavement. “But is the Darkness truly yours -- or do you belong to the Darkness?” He asked. “We shall see.”

Terra charged the Nobody with Keyblade upraised, bringing it down to clash against the blades that threw crimson light across the combatants’ faces. They clashed a few times, the blades crackling with energy, before they split apart again.

It quickly became obvious, to Terra’s surprise, that the pair of them had completely different fighting styles -- in contrast to Terra, Xemnas was faster by far and more acrobatic, somehow striking Terra as familiar, though he wasn’t sure why. He certainly didn’t fight like this, never had. Couldn’t, really -- his style was all brute force and little finesse, though he’d gotten better at strategy in recent days.

As much as Terra pressed his attack, Xemnas kept slipping around behind him or flipping over his head, the ethereal blades singing as they sliced into him. The Nobody’s feet barely touched the ground, so any of Terra’s earth magic was useless, and none of his other spells would get through.

“Damn it,” Terra hissed to himself, letting go of his Keyblade with one hand to lift his other and fire his own ethereal blades like a laser at Xemnas. The Nobody clearly hadn’t expected that, as he only barely blocked the first, the second and third slipping past to slice into his cheek and side.

“Clever,” Xemnas intoned, dismissing his blades to call forth a series of lasers of his own, surrounding Terra like a cage. “But _amateur_. You carry the memories of my nonexistence -- and yet you turn away from them. Such ignorance will be your downfall.”

Terra lifted his Keyblade to protect his face, but the lasers were far too numerous to block entirely. He let out a cry of pain, biting his lip to stifle the noise, as he was tossed across the courtyard, his back slamming hard into one of the dimly-lit lampposts. He tumbled to the ground and scrambled to his feet, barely managing to do so before Xemnas picked up the attack again.

He was _losing_ \-- all that anger, all that rage, where did it go? He couldn’t let Xemnas _win_. He had something to do, still, something important. How could he let this happen? Had he screwed up yet again? Had he failed _again?_ He staggered under the weight of the blows, faltering as his doubts began to bubble up to the surface. Was he doomed to always be a naive fool, a stupid boy who would always lose to the darkness in his own heart?

_“Terra!”_

He staggered, turning towards the voice. “Van-- Vanitas?” He managed, taken entirely off-guard. The boy was at the doorway to the skyscraper, breathing heavily like he’d run all the way there from wherever he’d been before, expression torn between fury and concern.

“What are you _doing?!”_ He shouted. “Kick his ass! You can’t lose to him!”

It was surreal, Terra thought faintly. Vanitas cheering him on? That was...what? What was-- 

“Terra!” Vanitas yelled again. “Get your shit together, come on! Don’t let Xehanort be _right!”_

Let him be right--? About what-- no, he knew. Don’t let him be right, don’t prove to Xehanort that he’ll always be the same stupid boy, the same gullible and naive and _weak_ fool that was possessed ten years ago, that spent ten years struggling and failing to fight back. Don’t prove to Xehanort that he’ll always fall back to Darkness, never be free of it -- that’s what he wanted, wasn’t it? He wanted Terra to barrel right back into the Darkness, lose himself again of his own free will. Just because he would, _could_ never change.

Vanitas rummaged in his pocket, pulling out a scrap of green -- the Wayfinder. _Ven’s_ Wayfinder. “You have something to protect, idiot!” He yelled, holding it up. “So _protect it!”_

That’s right; he wasn’t alone. He had something to protect; thirteen somethings. The Organization, _his_ Organization. All of them, and Vanitas, and Aqua and Ven-- he had to protect them. He had to _fight_ for them. He knew they could fight for themselves, but...it was his duty as a leader, to take care of them. He couldn’t let this defeat him.

He struggled back to his feet again, hefting his Keyblade. Xemnas smirked, raising an eyebrow. “So stubborn,” he said. “But no matter. You just drag this out longer than necessary.”

“So?” Terra snarled. “I _am_ stubborn. I _will_ keep fighting. It’s who I am. I’m stubborn, I’m proud, I love to fight. I’m not perfect, far from it, and I’ll always have Darkness in my heart. But I won’t lose here, not to you! This Darkness is _mine_ , not Xehanort’s! And I’ll wield it if I have to, I’ll use it to protect the people I love! _He’ll never use me again!”_

As jarring as it was, in a way, to see Stormfall cloaked in Darkness, there it was, and he shot forward with a shout, his Darkness enhancing each strike to the point that he could feel the pavement cracking under their feet with the weight of each blow, his arms shaking and the thinner Keyblade trembling. He could feel Xemnas’s blades slipping through his near-nonexistent guard, slicing through his shirt and into his skin, but he ignored it.

He felt...focused, more focused than ever. More certain in his purpose, maybe? Or more aware...whatever it was he was finally able to put the pieces together and recognize where the familiarity had come from, why he knew Xemnas’s fighting style when it was so different than his own. 

It _wasn’t_ his own. It was _Aqua’s_.

He took a breath, leaping backwards to assess the situation better; now that he knew his Nobody self had...somehow remembered Aqua enough to mimic her fighting style, he had this. He had an advantage -- he knew Aqua better than anyone, knew how she fought, knew her blind spots. That was something Xemnas couldn’t expect.

He closed his eyes on a moment’s whim, listening to the light bootsteps and crackle of energy, and pictured Aqua in Xemnas’s place. Her movements, the way she struck, the way she dodged, he could remember it all flawlessly. He opened his eyes, able to dodge the blows easily now -- he’d move this way, then strike to the right, then he’d flip backwards to dodge a forward strike…

_Now!_

He pushed forward, feinting another overhead, forward strike -- and when Xemnas blocked just like he knew he would, he let go of the Keyblade with one hand and shoved it against the Nobody’s chest, summoning an ethereal blade that plunged straight through Xemnas’s chest.

Xemnas let out a gasp, his blades vanishing as he dropped to his knees. Terra lowered his keyblade, placing the tip beneath Xemnas’s chin, the teeth resting on his collarbone. “I win,” he said harshly. “You’re the piece of Xehanort that was in me for a decade, the piece that wouldn’t go away. And now you’re done. You’re _gone_. My Darkness is my own and always will be. Tell Xehanort I’ll never let him win again -- if you can.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not,” Xemnas rasped. “Don’t let arrogance blind you, Terra, else you’ll fall again.”

Terra sucked in a breath and let it out, pushing the Keyblade forward as he did, surprisingly cold. He watched the Nobody -- his Darkness, the final piece of Xehanort -- fade, the last things visible being that smirk and those orange eyes. And then he was gone, and Terra dismissed Stormfall.

He turned to Vanitas, smiling tiredly, and the boy grinned back a little awkwardly. Terra climbed the steps back to the skyscraper, and Vanitas put his arm around him to support him when he reached him -- the two entered the building, and Terra was surprised to see the rest of the Organization waiting for him in the lobby. “Oh,” he murmured.

“You’re okay!” Lea grinned, stepping forward. “Ienzo and Dilan told us what was going on, so we came to see if you were-- Terra!?”

Their grins all faded, Terra realized faintly, and wondered why. And why was Lea whispering, he could barely hear him...was Vanitas saying something? He couldn’t…

And there he went, Vanitas yelping as the Keybearer toppled forward, slumping unconscious to the ground.

\----------------

Terra woke up slowly, with a pounding headache and a sore everything, but at the same time, he felt...lighter. It took him a minute to remember why, and then he rolled off the bed in his room -- wincing slightly when his knee hit the floor as he overestimated the distance to the ground.

“Ow,” he muttered, stumbling to his feet and rubbing the sore joint, heading to the bathroom. Ostensibly he wanted a shower, but he was honestly...more concerned with something else, something far more pressing and immediate. He flipped the light on and swallowed, trying to avoid looking in the mirror until the last possible moment...but then he looked.

It was a shock -- but a good one, his heart skipping two beats before sinking in relief. He gripped the sides of the sink with both hands, staring into the mirror, staring at his own reflection. His blue eyes, his brown hair. _His_ face, not a stranger’s. His own, the one he’d been missing for so long. He reached out to touch the mirror, his own face, letting out a soft sigh. “Shit...” He whispered. 

He ran his hands through his hair, almost savoring the fact that it was brown again, in his reflection. But it was still so long...on a whim, he left the bathroom, digging around in the penthouse’s desk until he found what he was searching for. Going back in the bathroom, he grabbed his hair, tugging his back into a tight ponytail before using the scissors he’d found to cut it all off. He dropped the discarded hair into the trashcan and left the scissors on the sink, raking his hands through his now chin-length hair to straighten it back out.

“Better,” he said to himself. He still looked different, older, but he felt-- he felt like himself again. He felt like _Terra_.

He took a long shower and got dressed, heading down to the makeshift lab. Ienzo and Even were there, hunched around the computer, only for them both to look up sharply when the door opened.

“Terra!” Ienzo said, smiling. “You’re awake. It’s good to see you, you look...well.”

“Thanks,” Terra said. “I’m glad the potion worked. How long was I out?”

“Two days,” Ienzo said. “Today’s the third since we got back from Storybrooke.” He smiled slightly. “You have good timing, by the way. I was just about to call the others.”

Terra blinked, hopping onto one of the counters. “New world?” He asked, and Ienzo nodded. He summoned his lexicon, calling his paper birds to fetch the others -- it seemed as if by now they were used to it, so the group had all made it downstairs within half an hour. They were all happy to see Terra, and Vanitas immediately climbed onto the counter next to him, leaning on his side.

“Good to see you’re not dead,” he said, punching Terra’s shoulder. “Knew you could do it. And look, you’re all... _you_ again. Nice.”

Terra laughed, ruffling Vanitas’s hair and deciding not to give him too much shit for caring. This was a huge step in the right direction; he was glad for it, and he just needed to let Vanitas get more comfortable on his own.

“So,” he said, directing his attention to Even. “Where are we going?”

Even nodded, turning to hit a few keys. “A world, far away -- it was well-hidden, we’re lucky it even appeared on our scans at all. But it’s...similar to Twilight Town and Destiny Islands, in a way, a world close to the edges of the other Realms. It seems...ancient, too, a fragment from a long time ago." He paused to double-check the readings, giving Terra the opportunity to notice Lauriam, face a little pale, leaving the room. "The signal is very biased towards the Light.”

“Ancient?” Terra asked, then stood. “Yeah, I think...that might be somewhere we need to check out. Lea, Vanitas, come with?”

Lea grinned. “Sure!” He said. “It sounds like a very Keyblade-y place. All light and stuff, yeah? I’m in.”

“As long as I won’t get my ass kicked, sure,” Vanitas said, shrugging. “Don’t trust anyone not us to, y’know, _not_ hit me first and ask questions later.”

Terra laughed, ruffling his hair. “Don’t worry, I won’t let that happen,” he reassured him. “Anyone else?”

“I’ll go,” Isa offered, standing. “Might as well. I’ve been bored, and if Lea’s going it gives me an excuse.”

Lea laughed. “Babysitting me, huh?” He said teasingly. 

“Yep,” Isa deadpanned, and everyone laughed. “Someone has to, you know.”

Terra snorted, glancing around at the others, and looking back at Even. “What’s the world’s name?”

“Daybreak Town, I believe,” Even said. “Good luck, Terra.”

“Thanks,” Terra replied. “We’ll be careful.”

That said, the four of them headed out, wondering what they’d find in this ancient town, so close to the Light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD. I LIVE I SWEAR I PROMISE!!!!
> 
> The release date announcement for KH3 basically kicked me into gear and gave me a hard deadline - I want this fic done before the game drops, so gotta get back in gear. There's been a lull in IRL bullshit lately, so...let's attempt to get this done.
> 
> Trivia: the chapter title is 'Rage Awakened' in Italian, because it fits ;)
> 
> ALSO!!! I drew this months ago, but now I get to post it, and will keep doing so for anyone who wants to art anything: [Full Final Reference Picture for the Gang's Outfits!!](https://68.media.tumblr.com/efe6a72d6e0fbf9669178f0025eca94a/tumblr_ot7tnyC0rH1rjqywoo1_1280.png)


	33. Eternal Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terra and the others arrive in Daybreak Town, and quickly meet the Daybreak Protection League -- a few brave souls caring for the town in honor of the place's legacy, a legacy that will be very important to their fight.
> 
> _"Let your heart be your guiding key."_

The four of them stepped out of the corridor and into the town, looking around curiously. It was a bright place, the sky tinted with the pale colors of sunrise and the houses all built of bluish stone, light wood, and purple shingles, flowers in nearly every windowsill. The pavement was pink cobblestones patterned with blue and yellow designs almost like stars, and in the distance was a huge clock tower. 

“Wow,” Lea said appreciatively, moving to look around the fountain square they found themselves in. “It’s like reverse Twilight Town. It’s so cute!”

Isa snorted. “Cute?” He asked, moving to stand next to the redhead. “It’s a town, Lea, towns aren’t cute.”

“Tell that to Christmas Town, you nonbeliever,” Lea replied with a laugh, and Isa groaned -- Terra could easily imagine the two of them had been talking about that particular subject for a few days now. It was nice to see the two getting along again; Xemnas’s memories hadn’t been pleasant on the subject of the two best friends. Xehanort had taken Isa for a vessel, and...though he didn’t know the details, he knew some. Enough to know it had been bad.

It was good to see things had repaired themselves...it almost gave him hope for him, Ven, and Aqua. Speaking of...he turned to Vanitas, only to pause -- the younger boy was looking around with a strange expression, brow furrowed.

“Vanitas?” Terra asked curiously. “What’s up?”

“I...dunno,” Vanitas admitted. “It’s weird. This place is kinda familiar, but...not, at the same time? Like I was-- no, like _Ven_ was here before. But that’s not possible, right?”

Terra shrugged. “I dunno,” he echoed. “I mean, I dunno what Ven was up to before Xehanort found him, but...maybe he was born here?”

“Maybe,” Vanitas said absently, shrugging. “Anyway, c’mon, let’s see if we can find people to pester or Heartless to kill.”

“Good plan,” Terra said with a laugh, motioning to the two others to follow as they headed down a long flight of wide stairs. The place was quiet, but in a peaceful way -- though they didn’t see very many people, it seemed more as if there just weren’t that many residents, and less like something had happened. It was similar to Twilight Town in that respect, Lea told them; there weren’t many people living there compared to how big the town was, so sometimes it just seemed empty. 

There was a market they passed through, though, and a few moogles manning the stores -- they waved at the four boys as they passed through, and Terra waved back. Moogles tended to be a good sign; they went where there was munny to be had, usually, and if the place was empty of people, it would be empty of moogles.

Market turned into a park, and in the quiet of the eternal dawn, that’s where they ended up finding some Heartless, a few dozen just wandering the place quietly. It seemed more like they were almost native to the place rather than having been summoned, and they weren’t types any of them had seen before. Plant-type Heartless that looked like roses, purple bell-wizards, strange multicolored flying ones that looked almost like gummi ships, purple archers, and a couple strange-looking ones that seemed almost to be three shadows piled on top of each other.

“I go left, you go right?” Lea suggested to Isa, and the blue-haired man grinned.

“Maybe leave some for the other two,” he said, summoning his claymore. “Unless the old man can’t keep up with the new generation?”

Vanitas snorted loudly, and Terra grinned back. “I’m not that old, you two,” he said, summoning his own Keyblade. “Make it a contest, then? You three kids against this ‘old man’, see who can take out more Heartless?”

“I’m in,” Vanitas said, cracking his neck. “C’mon, Lea, let’s show _Master Terra_ how it’s done.”

“Hey!” Terra protested to the boys’ backs, his face red. “I’m not a master yet!”

_“Yet!”_ Vanitas yelled back. “Now stop talking and start fighting, or we’ll beat you!”

The four of them shot into action, the grass beneath their feet wet with morning dew that likely never went away. Despite their unfamiliarity, the Heartless were still Heartless, and weren’t all that difficult to defeat. As most of them were destroyed, a few more popped up -- bags of jewels and coins, and winged eggs with teeth -- but those were just as quickly disposed of.

Soon the park was empty, and the four boys plopped down on the grass in relief. “Well, that was something,” Lea said brightly. “Damn good workout -- did anyone get our final count?”

“Someone had to, since you obviously wouldn’t remember,” Isa teased, elbowing the redhead. “We got maybe...thirty-two, between the three of us.”

Vanitas grinned. “Nice,” he said approvingly. “Terra?”

“Forty,” Terra said proudly, grinning triumphantly. “Maybe next time, _kids_.” He laughed over their indignant sputtering, watching them fondly -- he wasn’t that much older than them, maybe only a decade (one he didn’t feel), but getting to tease them and...well, teach them like this, or at least teach Lea...he wondered if Eraqus had felt the same way in the beginning, when he and Aqua had still been small. It was a nice feeling.

The four of them teased each other for a bit longer, but then Terra paused, glancing over at the underpass leading out of the park in one direction; he’d seen movement, and upon looking closer, it wasn’t Heartless -- it was a group of children, around eight or nine. They were watching the four of them with interest and awe, and when they saw Terra looking, they exchanged glances before the apparent leader, a boy with silver hair in a ponytail and a purple turtleneck under a black hoodie, scurried out and over to them.

“You’re _Keybearers_ ,” he said, sounding absolutely amazed. “We saw you fighting the Heartless.”

Terra smiled. “Yeah, we are,” he said with a laugh. “Well, three of us, anyway, but Isa is just as cool.” That got a snicker out of Lea, which turned into a yelp when Isa elbowed him. “Who’re you kids?”

The boy smiled proudly. “We’re the Daybreak Town Protection League!” He said, hands on his hips, before pausing. “Well...the _Junior_ Protection League. C’mon, you gotta come back with us, everyone’s gonna be so surprised!”

Terra glanced at the others, who shrugged and started to get up, and got up as well. “Sure,” he said with a smile. “We were looking for people to tell us about this place anyway. Lead the way, junior protector!”

The boy blushed proudly and nodded, running off back to his friends, and the gaggle of children waited for Terra and the others to catch up before leading them through the streets towards a house that looked a lot like all the others, tucked away near the clock tower. He pushed the door open and the kids all ran in. “Auntie Tina, Auntie Tina!” He yelled, following after Terra and the others. “We found Keybearers! Keybearers are here! Real ones, we saw ‘em fight!”

Terra chuckled at the commotion the boy was raising, and looked around to see a young woman come in from another room. She had pale green hair in a ponytail, and wore a red dress and boots; she looked surprised for a moment, and then smiled. “You’re really Keybearers?” She asked, and Terra nodded.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, summoning Aqua’s Keyblade to show her. “The worlds are in danger, so we’ve been going around trying to deal with the man responsible. Our travels led us here, though we’re not sure why...”

The young woman -- Tina -- nodded. “That makes sense,” she said. “Daybreak Town has a...history with Keybearers. Everyone who grew up here knows the stories.” She turned towards the children with a smile. “Would you like to tell them?”

“Yeah!” The leader said, and then nudged one of the others, a small, shy-looking boy with a mess of brown hair, freckles, and a green jacket. “Go on, you’re the one who knows it best.”

“U-Um, okay,” he said. “Daybreak Town was, the, um-- the place where all the Keybearers that fought in the-- in the war lived. There were five unions, and-- and they all lived here, while they were collecting light to help fight-- help fight the Darkness. Their leaders lived here, too, the, um, the Foretellers. After the War, all the Keybearers disappeared, but-- but the Heartless stayed. ‘Cause of how much light had passed through.”

Tina nodded. “The Heartless have always been a problem, ever since the War,” she clarified. “We’re used to them; they don’t really go out of their way to hunt, but they’ll attack if people wander into a nest or get too close to one, so that’s what our job is. The Protection League takes care of the Heartless as best we can. We might not be Keybearers, but that’s the legacy we live up to.” She held out her hand. “I’m Tina Branford. It’s nice to meet all of you.”

“I’m Terra,” Terra replied, shaking her hand. “And this is Lea, Isa, and Vanitas.”

“It’s a pleasure,” Tina repeated, and then turned towards the kids. “I’m going to get the others; you take care of our guests for a few minutes, alright?”

“Yes, Auntie Tina!” They chorused, and after she left, they turned towards Terra.

“I’m Luneth,” the leader told them with a grin. “This is Arc, Ingus, Refia, Eiko, an’ Tina’s sister Rydia.” He pointed to them in turn as he introduced them, starting with the brown-haired boy who’d told the story, and following him with a blond boy in a red shirt, a red-haired girl in a blue and white dress, a blue-haired girl in yellow overalls with a little winged backpack, and a green-haired girl in a green dress. “We help Auntie Tina and the others a lot, but we’re not allowed to fight yet. I’m gonna be a great fighter when I’m big, though!”

“I bet you are,” Terra said approvingly. “You remind me of me, a little, when I was your age.” Brave and curious, mostly, with a little bit of an obvious reckless streak. It was nice to see -- and it was nice to know that on this world, Keybearers were remembered. Their legacy was kept alive, and so was the memory of the War. It wasn’t just fantasy to them; it had _happened_. Maybe that’s why Even’s sensors had picked up on it -- they’d been _meant_ to come here, to learn more about the Keyblade War, especially in light of Xehanort’s plans.

Hopefully the man wouldn’t find this place, Terra thought. Hopefully it was hidden well enough.

Tina returned after a few minutes, in which Luneth regaled the boys with stories about what the world was like, and she wasn’t alone. With her were four others, and Tina gestured towards the quartet. “This is them,” she told her companions. “The Keybearers. Terra and friends, this is the rest of the Protection League.”

One of them stepped forward, a handsome older man with pale hair in a ponytail and white clothing. “It’s an honor to meet Keybearers, after all the stories we’ve heard,” he said with a smile, offering his hand. “I’m Cecil; my wife, Rosa, runs the hospital in here in Daybreak.”

“Nice to meet you,” Terra said, shaking his hand. “Like Tina said, I’m Terra, and the others, uh--” he glanced over at them, where Lea and Vanitas were crouched with the children, with Isa hovering nearby looking amused. “--they’re over there. That’s Lea, Isa, and Vanitas.”

“Looks like Luneth and the others have made some new friends,” one of the other men, a blond in fancy clothes, said with a laugh. “I’m Edgar, by the way.”

“He’s our resident mechanic,” Cecil said with a crooked smile. “And his brother Sabin’s just as handy -- he’s not here at the moment, though; he’s still laid up after trying to take down a Guard Armor.”

“I told him he couldn’t do it,” another voice said, and a shorter blond popped up between them. “I totally did.”

“No, Zidane, you _bet_ him,” Tina said, scolding him fondly. “There’s a lot of difference.” 

The short blond -- Zidane -- looked mock indignant. “Semantics, Tina,” he said with a grin. “He’s fine, either way, so...it’s all good. Sabin’s made out of rock or something, I swear.” He turned to Terra, revealing -- to Terra’s surprise -- the young man had a tail. “Heya. Like she said, I’m Zidane. Nice t’meet you!”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Terra said with a grin in return.

Zidane sketched a little bow, before rolling his eyes and turning to the last of the men. “Don’t be an ass, Kuja, introduce yourself.”

“Fine, fine,” the man said, coming over to offer his hand reluctantly. “Kuja,” he told Terra stiffly. “I have the _dubious_ honor of being this one’s older brother.”

Zidane stuck his tongue out at Kuja, and Kuja rolled his eyes -- the same way as his brother, Terra noted, but was polite enough not to say. “Zidane, Kuja, and Eiko aren’t from Daybreak Town,” Tina explained. “They and their friends came here a few years ago when something happened to their world.”

Terra couldn’t help but notice the flash of discomfort and guilt that crossed Kuja’s face at that, but again, didn’t say anything. “I see,” he said instead. “It’s nice to know there are other refuges for people, like Traverse Town.”

“There’s a few people living here that came here from other worlds,” Cecil said. “Some families -- mine and Edgar’s, for instance -- can even trace their lineage to Keybearers from the War who managed to stay or find their way back here after it was over. Of course, none of us have Keyblades, so the lineage is more of a talking point than anything.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Even so, it’s a fairly storied lineage -- Edgar’s family in particular has a great deal of old books if you want to look through them.”

“That would be great,” Terra said. “Any knowledge you guys still have about the War and the Keybearers of old would be incredible.”

Edgar nodded. “I can raid my library for you, then; it’s no big deal. Most of the books are collecting dust, anyway.” He smiled. “In the meantime, you four are welcome to stay the night.”

“Thanks,” Terra said, glancing at the others. “I mean, I don’t think I could’ve pried them away from their little mischief powwow over there, anyway.”

“Probably not,” Isa called over. “But don’t worry, I’m babysitting. I’m used to it, anyway, growing up with the king of stupid ideas.”

“Thanks, Isa,” Lea said with a fond groan. “Don’t forget you had some too, though.”

“You can’t prove that,” Isa said. “You have no evidence my ideas were anything but better than yours.”

“Ohhh, boy, is that a challenge?” Lea threatened. “I’m gonna ask Dilan when we get back, then. Plausible deniability my ass.”

The two boys started bickering, and Vanitas rolled his eyes, nodding at them and making a face at Luneth and the others, who let out a chorus of giggles.

Zidane laughed. “Boy, that looks familiar,” he said fondly, before glancing at the clock. “It’s evening patrol time,” he noted. “My turn today -- you wanna come with, Terra? I can show you around. I mean-- if you think you can keep up!”

“What is with people today and treating me like a grandpa?” Terra grumbled, grinning all the same. “Yeah, I’ll come with you. The others are pretty occupied, so...I don’t mind.”

Zidane moved to a cabinet by the door and retrieved a belt with two sheathes on it, each containing a red-hilted dagger. “Ready when you are,” he said.

“Already ready,” Terra replied, waving his hand. “Weapon’s right here.”

Zidane snorted, moving to the door and looking over his shoulder. “Don’t do anything too fun without me,” he called out. 

“Oh, just go and get on with it,” Kuja sniped back. “I’m sure we can once again live a few hours without you.”

“Oh, and someone get the Nimble Bee out of Kuja’s butt while we’re gone,” Zidane added, causing the others to laugh and his brother to groan. Terra chuckled along with them, and followed the blond out into the streets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daybreak Town arc, go!!! I'm going to try and be regular with the updates for a bit, because this is where shit starts to get Real, so hold on to your seats~ DT is gonna be fun, since we all play KHUx around here I assume. VULPES FTW!!
> 
> Lea and Isa, everyone's favorite married couple, now reconciled and snarking at each other. God bless.
> 
> And of course, can't forget the FF cameos! I love my FF cameos. If I'd remembered I would've had you guess who, but, well...here you go! I apologize in advance for them taking over the next chapter, but a certain muse or two won't shut up. But don't worry...plot incoming. Plot definitely incoming.


	34. To Call Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zidane and Terra have a little heart to heart, and we hear about his world and his story. The gang stays, and the next day...everything goes to hell.
> 
> _"You don't need a reason to help people"_

Zidane led Terra through the town, pointing out landmarks -- the moogles’ main storefront, the avenue to the lighthouse, the path down to the waterways -- and giving him a bit of a tour. Along the way there were groups of Heartless; more than Terra had ever seen on any other world, but more spaced out. It really did seem that they were almost like native animals to Daybreak, not foreign invaders called there by the Darkness. It was strange.

Zidane was able to keep up with Terra fairly well, to his surprise -- he didn’t hit as hard, but he was agile and quick, and managed to make a fantastic distraction for the Heartless while Tera took them out. He reminded him a little of Ven, in an odd way; maybe it was the fighting style, or the way he held his daggers...or maybe he was just worrying again.

“Hey, Zidane?” He asked, as they were heading back towards the League’s headquarters, the blond walking beside him balanced on the low wall next to the path. “Tina said you and your brother were from another world, right? What world was it?”

The other man blinked, turning to look over at Terra. “What world? Uh-- probably not any world you’ve heard of. It was small, and a long way away from anywhere else. Called Pandemonia, though.” He paused, before hopping down to sit on the wall and let his legs dangle. “From the books I’ve read, it wasn’t anything special, though? I think what was special about it was the _people_. This one guy, Garland? He was hundreds of years old, saw the War and everything. He eventually decided that he was afraid of something like it happening again, so -- since he was a really powerful wizard -- he decided to make a guardian for the world.”

“A guardian?” Terra asked. “Like...an artificial human?” Like a _Replica_ , was what he wanted to ask, but he knew Zidane wouldn’t know the reference.

“Yeah, like that,” Zidane agreed. “He made a ton of shells as practice, bodies with nothing in them, but eventually he figured out what he was doing -- he made one with a core made out of crystallized light, stuff called Lux. It’s what the Keybearers were collecting way back when to fight the Darkness.” He gestured a little at his chest. “The first complete Genome -- that’s what he called ‘em -- was Kuja. I was the second.”

Terra looked startled, studying Zidane for a moment. “You two are-- huh,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been able to tell. Then again I’ve seen someone kinda like you before, and it was hard to tell with him.” The Replica Riku had been….pretty much identical, from what he could tell from the reports Xemnas had read and seen.

“Yeah, it’s pretty weird -- I didn’t even know for a real long time,” Zidane said with a laugh. “I can’t blame him, but when I was made, Kuja got scared - for good reason - that he was gonna be replaced, so he took me and dumped me on the opposite side of the world.” He shrugged. “Honestly, after I met Garland, I really didn’t mind that much. He was kind of a crazy old guy in the end -- obsessed with protecting _his_ world and perfecting _his_ creations; besides me and Kuja, all the Genomes were like his blank little dolls, and he didn’t end up liking us because we ended up with real hearts of our own. Wanted to make me get rid of mine -- but that wasn’t happening. I like being me, all my thoughts and memories..”

“I can get that,” Terra agreed. “Somethin’ similar happened to me.” A scary thought -- being made to be a doll, and then someone trying to force you back to that state when they realized you had a heart of your own...it made him feel guilty about the Replica project. He wondered how Even felt...probably the same.

Zidane grimaced. “Echh,” he said. “Anyway, when Garland found me and tried making me into a doll again, he basically admitted to Kuja’s face he planned to get rid of him once he’d gotten his hands on me -- Kuja flipped, and ended up using Garland’s machines to call the Heartless to our world.” He shifted slightly, looking away. “It was pretty bad. We didn’t have much time to get everyone off our world, either, but we found a huge gummi ship hidden beneath Garland’s castle, and piled everyone we could on. We all got to Daybreak, but…I had to go back for Kuja.” He smiled weakly. “He was fighting Garland, and I think he was planning to go down with him and the whole world. I got him out, though, and we’re all here.”

“All?” Terra asked curiously. “How many did you get out?”

“Well, some of the Genomes, one of our world’s nobles -- Duke Fabool -- and his family; that’s Eiko, she’s his adopted daughter. Um...the princess of our world!” He grinned happily. “Garnet. Her family were protectors of the world’s heart, and it was a crazy story about how we met, but that’s for another time.” He laughed. “She’s the best, though. We rescued her and her two guardians, Beatrix and Rusty-- uh, I mean Steiner. My friend Freya and a bunch of her people, and a few other guys I worked with for a while.” He sighed. “There were a lot more we couldn’t save, but...hopefully one day we’ll find a way to bring ou world back, and they’ll be okay. They _will_ be okay, right?”

“Yeah,” Terra assured him. “The worlds I’ve seen that were lost and come back, it was like no time had passed for them. Yours’ll probably be the same.”

Zidane sighed, hopping off the wall. “Thank gods,” he said, relieved. “That’s good to know. I should tell Kuja...he still feels pretty bad about the whole thing. Even though we’ve all pretty much forgiven him by now, it’s still…” He shrugs. “I mean, he acts like he doesn’t care, but I know better.”

“I get that,” Terra admitted as they kept walking. “I...well, my friends and I all did a lot of things we regret. Some of them worse than others. We...all feel pretty guilty, I think, but we’re trying to make it right. It’s hard, though -- I know I’m...” He shifts. “I’m scared of facing my old friends again, the ones I grew up with. I know I screwed up a lot the last time we were together, and I’m different _now_ , but…”

But he still had messed up, big-time. He’d still killed Eraqus, fell for Xehanort’s plans. He’d still been a huge ass to Ven and Aqua, _especially_ Aqua. She’d been worried about him, they both had, and with every good reason to. But he’d been hurt and angry and pushed it away, and...well, here he was now, dealing with it. “But I still feel guilty about it.”

“Everyone has stuff they feel guilty about, I think,” Zidane told him. “Like...if someone didn’t feel guilty about _anything_ they did, I’m pretty sure they’d be like. A horrible person. But, I mean...they’re your friends. They’ll understand you didn’t mean to make those mistakes, or if you did, you know better now, and they’ll forgive you. Well--” He laughed. “They might be mad for a _little_ bit, but you’re friends. They’ll love you anyway.”

Terra smiled. “Yeah,” he agreed, though inside he was still unsure. Sure, he’d dealt with his own darkness, accepted it -- but would Aqua and Ven feel the same? They’d been raised by Eraqus, too. Aqua more so than Ven had held the same beliefs about the darkness, and it was...he was still worried. What if they didn’t accept him? Even if he’d accepted himself, if his dearest friends didn’t…

“You alright there, Terra?” Zidane asked, and Terra shook himself out of his thoughts. “You spaced for a bit.”

“I’m fine,” he reassured him. “Just lost in thought for a minute.”

“Don’t get too lost, or you’ll walk into a wall and I’ll laugh,” the blond teased, and Terra laughed as well, letting himself forget his worries.

* * *

 

After the two of them had gotten back from patrol, Cecil had invited them to his house for dinner -- he’d introduced the four of them to his wife, Rosa, and their teenage son, and Lea hit it off with Ceodore fairly quickly. It was a good evening, filled with laughter and conversation -- the rest of the League had joined them, and it turned into a contest of who could tell the most outrageous story. Lea and Isa ended up winning by a landslide, the two of them regaling the rest of the group with tales of their childhood antics -- well, _Lea’s_ childhood antics, as Isa had mostly been along for the ride in many cases. (Or so he insisted; Terra was pretty sure Isa had been just as guilty of their shenanigans.)

The next morning, the four of them had headed back to the headquarters -- Tina’s house, apparently -- where they were going to meet Edgar and pick up the books he’d promised. Tina had warned them Edgar tended to be a bit slow in the mornings, but Terra had reassured her it was fine, and struck up a conversation with her while the other three spoke. It was nice to see Vanitas getting along so well with them; he seemed fairly attached to Lea as it was, but he could tell he liked Isa, too. He was glad for that; he didn’t want to be Vanitas’s only friend, and he’d been concerned at first that that would be the case with how the boy would stick close to him when dealing with the rest of the Organization. But...there he was, laughing alongside Lea and Isa, and it made Terra...well, kind of warm and fuzzy.

It was weird. But a nice kind of weird.

The five of them looked up when the door slammed open, and Terra was on his feet instantly when Arc ran in, face red and streaked with tears.

“Auntie Tina, Auntie Tina!” He bawled, nearly tripping over his own feet. Terra knelt to catch him, and he looked up at the group with wide, terrified eyes. “The others a-are in trouble! A-A person came, s-someone in black, and he took them! There were Heartless, and-- and I was scared, so I ran, but the others are still with him!” He turned towards Terra and the others. “You have to help them!”

“Where are they?” Isa asked. They’d already all stood when Arc had mentioned it was someone in black, and even if they hadn’t been asked, Terra knew they’d be helping. If this was Xehanort or one of his vessels...well, it was their job to stop him, no matter what he was doing here. Especially before he got his hands on any of the knowledge stored here.

“The-- the hill,” Arc sniffled. “The dandelion hill.”

Tina looked at the boys. “That’s outside of town, past the first district,” she said, moving towards the door. “I’ll get the others. Terra, can you and your friends go on ahead?”

“Of course,” Terra told her. “Don’t worry, Luneth and the others are gonna be okay.” Tina smiled and nodded, and they took off in the direction she had told them, Terra in the lead, while Tina ran to get the rest of the League.

The town quickly faded around them, replaced by open air and lush, green fields, with plenty of trees and hills covered in flowers. It would have been beautiful in any other circumstance, but they couldn’t focus on any of the scenery.

They eventually found themselves at a hill overlooking the town, the short grass covered in clovers and dandelions swaying in the breeze. The rest of the kids were all there, surrounded by unfamiliar looking Heartless, humanoid and smiling widely, with two-pointed hats, batlike wings, and pink thorns around their bodies. Standing behind them, at the edge of the cliff, was a short figure in a black coat, the hood pulled over their face.

“Terra, help!” Luneth yelled, trying to move forward only to be blocked by the Heartless.

“Don’t worry,” he reassured them. “Nothin’s gonna happen.”

He looked up, summoning his Keyblade and hearing the others summon their own weapons. “Let them _go_ ,” he demanded. “You wanted us here, right? You don’t need the kids.”

“Actually? No,” the black-coated figure said, his voice a little distorted but oddly familiar. “I didn’t even know you were here! This is a pretty sweet bonus, if you ask me. I’m actually here for the two puppets. The dolls with cores of light.” He shrugged. “But hey, if I get to deal with you guys, same difference, right? Boss man’s still happy.”

He gestured with a hand. “‘Kay, guys, you can go,” he said, and the Heartless disappeared. “You too, kids. Don’t wanna be in the way for this. If you run into the dolls, though, tell ‘em to bring backup. They’re not gonna wanna miss this.”

Luneth looked at Terra with wide eyes, and he nodded. “Go on,” he told him. “Get to safety, okay? We’ll be there soon.”

Luneth and the others ran off down the hill without much further prompting, and Terra stepped forward, moving into a battle stance. “You make it sound like we’re gonna make it _easy_ for you,” he said, voice hard. “We’re not about to let you get your hands on Zidane and Kuja, and we’re not gonna let you get your hands on anything else from this world, either. If you want to make it so easy, then get out of here before we have to kick your ass.”

The black-coated figure laughed. “ _Language_ , Terra! There’s children around here!” He said almost mockingly. “Man, when did you get so grumpy?” He tilted his head. “And when did you make friends with _him?”_ He asked. “I mean, I guess he’s _kind of_ a replacement goldfish, but…little desperate, huh?”

“Hey, shut the hell up,” Vanitas snapped. “I’m _right here_ , asshole, and I know you’re talking about me.” He paused, about to say something else, but then faltered. “Wait…” He began. “Terra, there’s something…”

The figure continued. “And when did _you_ get a Keyblade?” He asked Lea over the other two’s heads. “I mean, I _guess?_ Must be how Isa’s not on our team anymore, anyway, but still, are Keyblades like Halloween candy now? You get one, and you get one, and _you_ get one…” He snorted. “I guess whoever picks ‘em is getting desperate, what with the real masters either missing, ours, or _stupid_.”

Terra flinched, knowing the last comment was directed at him. “Who the hell are you, anyway?” He snapped. “You’re way too short to be Xemnas or his Heartless -- and you don’t sound like the younger one. If you’re gonna fight us, then get serious, stop talking shit, and let’s get to it.”

“Wow,” the figure said. “I didn’t realize you ever had a mouth like that on you, Terra. Guess getting possessed does that to a guy.”

“Terra,” Vanitas repeated, a little more frantic and insistent. “Something’s _weird_. I don’t feel right.”

Whether it was that, or just something finally sinking in about how familiar the voice was, how familiar he seemed to be with them...Terra’s heart nearly stopped. No. No, it couldn’t be. “Who-- who _are_ you?” He repeated, praying with all his heart that he was wrong. That it was wrong.

“That’s kinda rude,” the figure said. “I mean...we’re _best friends_ , right? I didn’t think you’d forget me.”

He reached up to pull his hood down, and Terra’s entire world upended itself -- he could hear Lea swear loudly in the distance, and was that Vanitas screaming? But it was far, far away. He couldn’t...he wasn’t...no. No, no, it couldn’t be. This wasn’t happening.

_But it was._

Ven stood there, hands on his hips, smiling at them with that same bright smile he’d always worn -- with golden eyes above it, cold and unfamiliar. “It’s me, Terra,” he said, familiar voice coming out of a familiar face, but it was all wrong. “ _Ventus_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't think I have anything to say here this time, only to briefly apologize for taking up half a chapter with expodump for KH-verse FF9 stuff.
> 
> Oh, and --
> 
> MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA I'VE BEEN WAITING 33 CHAPTERS FOR THIS MOMENT. /continues cackling evilly


	35. The Newest Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reeling from the reveal of Xehanort's newest victim, the boys have to do something -- and not just about him. But they do, and then they have to deal with the aftermath.
> 
>  
> 
> _T'is foolishness! If all were so easy, why, none would suffer in this world!_

“It’s me, Terra,” the boy said, the smile on his face as wrong and twisted as the bright gold of his eyes. “ _Ventus_.”

His voice sounded like it was coming from far away, miles away, and Terra could barely hear Lea shouting something from behind him, or Vanitas screaming, or-- or anything. He dropped to his knees, eyes wide; no. No, this couldn’t be happening, it wasn’t. It couldn’t be.

“How--” He managed, voice faltering. “How did--”

Ven blinked, and then snorted. “Oh, right, that,” he said. “Well...isn’t it obvious? Bless her heart, Aqua got so worried about me and came to get me, but Xehanort was right behind her and _yoink_ \--” He gestured with a laugh. “Right out from under her. And I mean, it’s not like my real heart’s in here _anyway_.” He tapped his chest. “Nice and empty, lots of room for someone else’s.”

He shrugged, glancing over at Vanitas with an almost bemused expression. “None of us were expecting you to turn up, though, but I guess Xehanort being in here kicked you out, or something? Too bad we didn’t notice sooner -- would’ve been a pretty great two-for-one.”

“What-- what did you do to Aqua?” Terra managed, genuinely surprised he was able to keep talking. His heart felt like it was being crushed, his head was spinning...he could barely think at all beyond that question: what happened to Aqua?

“Uh...nothing, actually,” Ven said carelessly. “She probably chased us? No idea where she ended up, though. She wasn’t in great shape up here.” He tapped his head. “Kept calling kid Xehanort _Terra_ for some reason--” Another twisted, awful little smile crossed his face. “Wonder why.”

“Oh, shut up!” Lea snapped finally, stepping forward to stand in front of both Terra and Vanitas. “Just-- shut up and get outta here. You’re not-- you’re _not_ Ven. Not right now. So just-- turn around and run back to that old bastard and tell him he’s going down next.”

“ _Rude_ , Lea,” Ven said, mock insulted. “That’s no way to talk to a friend. Or are you just upset ‘cause I look like Roxas?” He grinned wider when Lea flinched. “Though so. You know that’s where my heart went, right? Well, Sora first, and then Roxas borrowed it. You have some _issues,_ man. For someone who claims to remember everyone, you sure forgot _me_. Didn’t even put two and two together.”

“Shut it,” Lea snapped, brandishing his Keyblade. “Regardless of who you are or who you look like, you’re _not_-_ you’re Xehanort. And you really need to stop trying to sound like Ven.”

“Is that what you think?” Ven asked. “Look, just ‘cause your bestie over there had to get stuffed into the back of his own head so we could use him doesn’t mean we’re _all_ like that.” He grinned at Isa, who was bristling visibly, teeth bared as if he were about to go berserk. “I’m still Ven. Or, well...some of him, anyway. I mean, don’t tell me you thought Vanitas came outta _nowhere_.”

He shrugged, crossing his arms. “Though you’re right in one respect -- I’m probably not gonna get those dolls today. That’s fine, though. I still have at least one potential prize; two former vessels and a potential third? _Great_.” He snapped his fingers and the Heartless from earlier reappeared, the jester-like ones with fixed and toothy grins.

“These guys are pretty cool, aren’t they?” He asked, gesturing at them. “They’re like super-Heartless -- and for good reason. Go on, kids, show our guests what you can do.”

“Kids?” Lea echoed, shaking himself off. “C’mon! Terra, Isa, Vanitas, snap out of it!” He yelled, blocking the first one’s attack with his blade and starting to fight them. “I can’t fight them alone!”

They were tough -- that much was pretty obvious. Their claws were sharp and they were fast and strong, and...and the creepiest part was that he swore they were talking. Heartless weren’t supposed to-- they didn’t-- but these were. Giggling to themselves, mumbling fragments of sentences in distorted voices. Stuff about light, give them light...it was disturbing, and Ven’s referral to them as ‘kids’ made Lea distinctly uncomfortable.

Thankfully Isa, at least, was able to shake it off and join the fray, and despite Terra and Vanitas’s incapacitation, the two were able to kill enough of the strange, terrifying Heartless to make the rest flee.

Ven pouted when the last of them were gone. “Aw, sucks,” he said. “Those are hard to find these days, y’know. At least some of them made it out.”

“What are they?” Isa demanded. “They were _talking_.”

“Oh right, they do that,” Ven said with a laugh, bending down to pick a dandelion from the field of flowers he stood in. “They’re Darklings. Remnants of the War -- Keyblade kids who fell to the Darkness. Spooky, huh? They weren’t mega-strong like Xehanort, but they were still strong enough to keep some bits of their mind when they fell.” He smiled. “Wonder if I knew any of them.”

“If you...what?” Lea asked.

“Knew them,” Ven repeated. “See, I don’t remember, but according to Xehanort I’m from back then or something. He never told me much, and I do have a bad habit of forgetting stuff anyway, so I figure it’s whatever either way. But this place does seem familiar, so…” He blew on the dandelion, the three of them watching the white seeds fly away. “...maybe.”

“Not that it matters,” he added. “Regardless of when and where I’m from, the present doesn’t change.” He paused, leaning forward to look at Terra, who was still kneeling behind Lea and Isa in shock. “Some ‘master’ you are,” he added. “When it comes to the wire, you’re useless, aren’t you, Terra? You couldn’t save me back then, and you can’t save me now. You can’t save anyone.”

There was a commotion at the bottom of the hill, and Ven frowned, straightening. “And there’s the cavalry,” he noted. “I left a welcoming party down there, but they should be up soon. And with that...I should go.” He grinned again, waving, and stepped backwards through a corridor. Lea made to move forward, but Isa grabbed his arm, shaking his head.

Lea subsided, and the two of them watched the corridor close before turning to help Terra and Vanitas.

“Terra,” Isa said, crouching beside him and shaking his shoulder gently. “Terra, snap out of it. _Terra!”_ He shook him a little more roughly, and Terra startled, his eyes haunted when he finally seemed to come back to the present.

“I-- he’s gone?” He asked weakly, and Isa nodded, making Terra droop. “I’m-- I’m sorry,” he said. “I was-- I was _useless,_ I really was...I couldn’t even-- I just _sat_ here.”

“It’s alright,” Isa told him with a slight, sympathetic smile. “You had the right to freak out over that. None of us were...this changes things. And it’s no surprise it hit you hardest. It’s nothing to be ashamed over. We all have weak spots.” He helped Terra to his feet and looked over at Lea, crouching beside Vanitas, who had also crumpled to the ground. “Is he okay, Lea?”

Lea looked up, his face a little pale. “I-- I don’t know,” he said. “There’s something-- Terra, something’s up. I don’t--”

Terra stumbled over, immediately worried. “Ven and Vanitas are connected, him being-- it might have--” He tried to explain as he moved over, but stopped and nearly fell back as he realized darkness was rolling off the boy’s body in waves, the blackness growing and coalescing into an Unversed, a huge one -- Terra hadn’t seen one this big since...since a decade ago, since the huge ones that he and the others had to fight when Vanitas had been working with Xehanort. This one was similar, almost childish in design like the rest of them: a giant plant-like monster resembling, almost, an animal -- a fox, maybe? -- made out of leaves and stems and petals, with a huge dandelion for a tail.

But regardless of what it looked like, Terra was quick to realize it wasn’t under Vanitas’s control at all as it swiped at him with a screeching cry. “Shit!” He yelped, still pale and shaken by what had happened but trying to keep it together for the others’ sakes. He glanced around the monster to see the Protection League running up the hillside, and motioned frantically. “It’s Vanitas!” He called. “We’ll explain later, we have to stop this thing quick, he can’t control it!”

If it wasn’t under his control, who knew what it could do? He knew how dangerous Unversed could be when they had ill intentions, and one out of control could likely be worse. he hated having to take it out, though, knowing what it would do to Vanitas, but...there really wasn’t a choice. He was in no state to call it off on his own, if it would even listen.

He let the others take care of it -- despite being guilty for doing so -- and moved to pull Vanitas into his arms. The boy was squirming in pain, eyes squeezed shut, and Terra could see tears at their edges. When Terra made to touch him, he fought back, scratching at Terra’s arm and trying to kick away, but gave in after a moment and let Terra hold him.

He wasn’t paying attention; it could have been minutes or an hour, but when a scream ripped itself out of Vanitas’s mouth and he buried his face in Terra’s shirt, clinging to it and shaking (Terra pretended not to see him cry), he knew the Unversed was gone. He picked Vanitas up and looked at the others, standing clustered loosely on the hillside watching him.

“I’ll explain,” he said tiredly. “Can we just...get back to town, first?” He desperately needed time to think, to process, to... _god._ This had all spiraled so out of control so fast.

* * *

They’d all gotten back to Tina’s house, and Terra barely registered the pile of books on one of the tables -- he set Vanitas gently down on a chair and sank into the one beside it, burying his face in his hands. He felt someone put their hand on his shoulder and he let them, letting out a long sigh.

“What happened up there?” Zidane asked finally, and Terra peered through his hands to see the blond in front of him, looking between him and Vanitas, who was curled in the chair with his head buried in his knees.

“Our--” Terra’s voice broke, but he forced himself to continue. “One of our friends, one of the-- the people we’re looking for. It...it turned out that the guy we’re fighting, he...he got to him first.” He swallowed. “Possessed him,” he added, the words tasting horrible on his tongue. He saw Vanitas flinch out of the corner of his eye and he reached over to put a hand on his head. “We-- he was the one that took the kids. He didn’t...he didn’t hurt them, and didn’t fight us, really, but he left, and…” He looked away.

“Something happened with the boy,” Cecil said gently, watching Vanitas with a sort of fatherly concern that had Terra slightly more at ease. “He’s not a normal child, is he?”

“No,” Terra said. “He’s...a piece of my friend, the boy who was possessed. An incomplete half of him. Ven-- my friend, the other boy-- he’s...he’s the other half. But the way they were split, Vanitas is...his emotions can manifest as monsters. The shock of seeing Ven like that, it…” He shook his head. “He couldn’t control it this time.”

“Oh,” Tina said softly, moving over to crouch in front of Vanitas. She seemed very motherly, like that, and Terra guessed that was why she seemed to be the one in charge of the kids. “You poor boy,” she murmured. “Are you alright? We didn’t hurt you, did we?”

Vanitas peeked up, a bit surprised. “N-No,” he said, his voice muffled. “It...it did hurt, but m’okay. S’better than letting it go nuts…” It always made Terra sad to know that Vanitas was used to the pain of Unversed being destroyed, but...in this case it was a small comfort, that he wasn’t angry over this. Then again, it was...it paled in comparison to what else had happened.

Zidane seemed to pick up on that, too, whether it was what Terra had said or the look on his face. “Are _you_ okay, Terra?” He asked. “I mean, you said it was...it was your friend. You doing okay?”

“I…” Terra began. “Not-- no,” he admitted. “Ven’s...I couldn’t protect him from Xehanort. Not ten years ago when this began, and not now. It’s...I know logically I couldn’t really have seen this coming, but I still…”

“Guilt really _is_ the easy way out, isn’t it?” Kuja said suddenly from his spot in the back, arms crossed. “Oh, it’s my fault, here I am feeling bad about things, and of course that makes it all easy to swallow regardless.”

Zidane turned to glare at his brother. “Kuja!” He snapped. “Now’s _really_ not the time to be an ass.”

“It’s always time to be _honest_ ,” Kuja replied irritably. “And trust me, I know what I’m talking about. It’s easy to be guilty, to say _‘oh, it’s my fault,’_ and pretend that blaming yourself accomplishes something. You can self-flagellate all day and just...act like that solves the problem, that feeling bad about it makes it _better_.”

 _“Kuja!”_ Zidane repeated.

Terra swallowed, shaking his head. “No, he’s-- he’s right,” he said after a moment, looking away. “It’s...I’ve been doing that a lot. Just beating myself up over everything, and leaving it at that. I keep saying I’m gonna...I’m gonna make up for it, but I haven’t done much, just-- just fought off my own demons. I haven’t actually _fixed_ anything I feel guilty about.”

“Neither have I,” Kuja said dryly. “But I get the feeling your problems are a bit easier to fix.”

Terra sighed again, and he looked up when it was echoed by Zidane. “You’re both dumb,” the blond said, shaking his head. “I mean...I _guess_ Kuja has a point. But feeling guilty isn’t wrong, or anything. Anyone’s gonna feel guilty about messing up, even when it’s not really their fault. It’s normal. You don’t have to beat yourself up for feeling bad. But…” He shrugged. “Fixing it’s not going to be easy or all at once. Don’t beat yourself up for not fixing anything right away, either. Just...do what you can, when you can. Your friends aren’t going to hold that against you.” He turned to smile at his brother. “It’ll be slow going, but...it’ll be okay, y’know? Nothing in life’s easy, but no one’s alone in it, and that’s what’s important.”

“Yeah,” Lea added with a grin. “Don’t worry so much about ‘not fixing stuff’, okay? All of us have shit to fix. We’ve all screwed up a lot of things. The important thing isn’t…ugh, I don’t know what I’m trying to say, but we’re all fixing stuff _together_. Things look bad, I know, but it’s...it’s a group effort to make it right.”

Isa, the one with his hand on Terra’s shoulder, nodded. “Agreed. I mean...my hands are _certainly_ not clean, either. You know that, Terra. We were in the same boat. And...I feel guilty, true, and for good reason, but-- but I know things will be alright. I know I can’t fix things right away, but...I know Lea will be there the whole time I do. That’s enough for now.” He shrugged. “We’ve already told you the responsibility isn’t yours alone. You aren’t accountable for all of us, and you aren’t accountable for everything Xehanort does. You’re only human, and you can’t do things perfectly all the time. Don’t beat yourself up for this, or for not being able to make it all right immediately and single-handedly.” He smiled. “We’re just a bunch of idiots fumbling around and hoping we manage something useful, honestly. It’s okay.”

Terra managed a laugh. “Okay, okay, you guys can stop being relentlessly supportive. I’ll...I’ll be fine, okay? I’ll be alright.” He turned to look at Kuja, and smiled faintly. “You too, yeah?

Kuja, who had gone very quiet, smiled faintly back. “Yes,” he said. “I suppose so. Having someone so relentlessly optimistic as a brother is...well, it isn’t annoying _all_ the time.”

The group laughed, and Terra sighed, letting the others talk over them for a while as he turned to Vanitas. “You gonna be alright?” He asked gently, and Vanitas uncurled slightly, shrugging.

“I guess,” he mumbled. “It...hurts a little. Like someone’s stepping on my chest, but...I can kinda ignore it. I think I’ve been ignoring it, ‘cause it had to have been happening the whole time, I just...didn’t wanna notice it. But I’ll be fine, I guess. Dealt with it for this long, right?”

“If it hurts, you can tell me, okay?” Terra promised. “You don’t have to deal with anything alone, either. We’re all here for you.” He paused and reached out to take Vanitas’s hands in his. “And we’ll get Ven back. I promised you that before and I’m promising it again now. We’ll save Ven. I won’t let _him_ have him.”

Vanitas softened slightly, trying to smile and managing a half-hearted one. “Thanks,” he said quietly. “I-- I trust you, Terra. And...we’ll get him back.”

Terra leaned over to give Vanitas a hug, which the boy returned, and then stood. “I...hate to have to leave so soon, but we have to let the others know what happened,” he said. “This is pretty big, and...our friends need to know.” He looked over at the books still on the table, moving to pick them up in an arm. “And the books will help for sure, I don’t think I thanked you for them?”

Edgar waved a hand. “No need. As I said, they’ve just been collecting dust -- I’m more than happy to send them off to a worthy cause, and yours is the most worthy there is to have them.”

Tina smiled. “Take care,” she told them. “And come back and visit anytime when this is over, alright? Keybearers will always be welcome here.”

“We will!” Lea promised. “And we’ll bring our friends, too.”

The four of them said their goodbyes and left the house, meaning to head a little ways away to take the corridor, and paused when Luneth and Arc shot out from the house behind them. “Vanitas!” He called. “We wanted to give you something!”

Vanitas paused, blinking and looking a little awkward. “You...you did?” He asked. “Why me?”

“Cause,” Luneth said. “Your other you is the one the bad guy got, right? So we figured the gift is best for you, so you can get him back.” He held the thing out to him, and they all looked at it in surprise -- it was a keychain, a fancy yellow and purple star with a pale turquoise ‘tail’ to it, like a comet. “There’s tons of these around town, and we figure they’re for Keyblades,” he explained. “So we decided to give one of the ones we found to you.”

Vanitas grinned, summoning his Keyblade and putting the new keychain on the end of it, stuffing the one for Void Gear in his pocket. The kids all gasped when the black-and-red weapon with its pale blue eyes flashed and changed into a different form, this one resembling its chain -- its teeth was a gold and purple star with a gold starburst on its other side, the shaft black wrapped in more bright gold and sparkles, and the handle purple with even more gold star decorations. “I like it,” he said, staring it with an odd expression. “It’s...different.”

“You definitely needed a change,” Terra agreed -- the other one had suited him once, but not anymore. He’d needed something...better. “And that one’s pretty cool.” And he had a feeling it suited him more than the others had thought -- with what Ven had said and the odd look on his face, it was possible Ven had once wielded the very same blade.

“Isn’t it?” Vanitas said, dismissing his new Keyblade and grinning a little awkwardly at Luneth. “Thanks,” he said, before hesitating. “And...and thanks for, um..not caring. About, y’know...what I am.”

Luneth shrugged. “What _are_ you?” He asked. “I mean, you’re just Vanitas. Kuja and Zidane are weird, too, but they’re our friends. So it doesn’t matter.”

Vanitas’s smile got more genuine. “Thanks for that,” he repeated. “And, uh...take care, okay? You’re...the kids from the War would be pretty proud of you guys, I bet.”

The two boys grinned widely and hugged him, much to Vanitas’s surprise, before heading back inside.

“Aw, look, you have friends,” Lea teased him, and Vanitas swatted him. “C’mon, let’s go.”

“Yeah,” Vanitas said after a moment. “Let’s go.”

They had a lot of news to bring back to the others, after all -- and none of it was good. But it was more than they had before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY TO KEEP YOU WAITING FOLKS HERE'S THE NEXT BIT.
> 
> Sad things everywhere and some KHUx tidbits and Vanitas cuteness and the IX boys being. Them. And, well. Stuff. One more chapter, though, and then we get to the arc that I've been looking forward to for months now~!


	36. Intermezzo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seeing they seem down, Ienzo suggests a visit to a certain cheerful Keybearer: but things don't exactly go as planned.

They’d gotten back to expectant faces -- the others all looking curious and interested in what had been discovered at this strange world Even had found -- and after passing an excited Ienzo and Even the books...Terra told them what happened. He hadn’t been looking forward to it, but he knew he’d needed to do it.

It changed _everything_ \-- before, it had been a search for Ven and Aqua, their uncertain fates at the forefront of their worried minds. _Have you seen my friends?_ It had been a question asked in every world. Now, though, now they knew exactly where Ven was.

He was with Xehanort.

And Aqua? They still didn’t know, but with the revelation of what had happened to Ven...none of it could be good. And the possessed boy’s mention of her mental state...it was hard to tell whether or not he was lying, but regardless: ten years in the Realm of Darkness couldn’t have been healthy.

Despite everything, despite the reassurances from the others and their support and encouragement...even though Terra knew feeling guilty wasn’t really helpful and dwelling on it was less productive than going out and doing something about it...he couldn’t help it. He _knew_ that -- no, if he hadn’t been an idiot, Xehanort would have found someone else. He couldn’t blame himself for it all, logically, because someone else would have...but still. He’d accepted his darkness, but that didn’t mean he’d accepted the mistakes he’d made, not entirely.

It wasn’t just him affected, either -- Vanitas had retreated into his makeshift nest of blankets in Terra’s room, burying himself in them like a turtle and refusing to come out. He hoped the boy would be okay eventually -- soon -- but...he knew it had affected him almost worse than it had affected Terra himself. Ven was Vanitas’s other half; to see that the man who’d tormented them both for so long had stolen Ven’s body and mind, made him a mockery of the boy Vanitas had been created from? It wasn’t hard to imagine how upset he was.

The others definitely noticed -- the day after they’d returned, Ienzo let himself into Terra’s room. Terra was facedown on the couch, but he looked up when he heard someone enter. “Hey, Ienzo,” he said, attempting to sound less melancholic. “Did you need something?”

“Besides needing you to pull yourself together?” Ienzo asked dryly. “Not in particular. Lea and Isa did warn us you and Vanitas were upset, but--” It was clear he was worried, but the young man was also not very certain of how to go about expressing that. Terra wasn’t surprised; he’d lost his heart when he was far too young to have learned anything much about emotions, and now that he was himself again, he probably still didn’t know. It was one thing to observe and imitate, but...he sighed. Going down that train of thought would just make him feel guilty about something else.

“Thanks for worrying,” Terra said instead, sitting up and letting Ienzo come and sit next to him. “I know it’s not...I know I’m not really being productive like this. It’s just…”

“One of your best friends has been possessed by Xehanort like you were,” Ienzo finished for him. “You have _every_ reason to be upset. Especially you, and especially Vanitas. I don’t fault you for that. It’s just…” He fell silent, searching for words. “We’re all your friends, too, now, I suppose. So we-- we’d like for you to be alright.”

Terra couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll be alright,” he reassured Ienzo. “I don’t...I’m sorry to worry you. I guess I’m just...not the kinda guy to be able to brush things off so easy.”

“Not many people are,” Ienzo admitted with a laugh. “The only person I can think of would be--” He stopped, an idea seeming to come to him, and he stood up. “Sora, that’s it!”

Terra blinked. “What about Sora?” He asked, a little confused.

“He might be able to help,” Ienzo explained. “Both our current problems. If anyone can help ease your worries, it’s him -- I can’t think of anyone more capable of bouncing back from anything and helping others do the same. He’s...relentlessly optimistic, and it’s hard for it not to rub off.” He chuckled. “And he’s the current caretaker of Ven’s heart,” he added. “We might be able to find a way to save him, with Sora’s help.”

“Y’think so?” Vanitas asked, peering out of his blanket nest. “I mean-- I know he’s got Ven’s heart. Sora’s the weirdo who looks like me. But y’think he can...you think he can help save him?”

“It’s worth investigating,” Ienzo said with certainty. “Sora’s regularly been capable of far more than we’ve ever given him credit for.”

Terra sighed. “You can say that again,” he agreed. “I know Xemnas never saw him coming.” The Superior had thought he’d planned for everything the Keybearer could do -- and he still hadn’t quite been prepared for him.

Vanitas untangled himself from his nest and stood. “Well, in that case, let’s go visit him,” he said. “Weird lookalike or not, if he can help save Ven…”

“Yeah,” Terra said, standing as well. “It’s a good plan. Let’s see if anyone else wants to tag along.”

* * *

As Terra had expected, Lea had practically fallen over himself to ask to come visit Sora with them -- he knew Lea was pretty attached to the boy, after all. Partially because of Roxas, yeah, but...Sora was hard not to like.

Vanitas suggested they bring Edgar’s books along, but Even had refused -- _he_ was still going through them, after all -- and they all knew it was a lost cause to try arguing. The scientist was just... _like that._

That said, they headed through the corridor --

And then something happened.

Usually, journeys through corridors were almost instantaneous, stepping through one end and out where you wanted to be. Much quicker than travelling the lanes between or the gummi routes. More dangerous because of the exposure to darkness, yes, but with how much the former Organization had already been exposed to, it wasn’t a problem for them. they could occasionally open to the realm Between, but that was a rare occurrence, and usually didn't happen with portals opened manually.

This time, though, the corridor was... _wrong_ , somehow, and they only noticed when they lingered in the darkness for far longer than they should. They hardly had time to react or to figure out the cause before the corridor broke down entirely, flinging them all into darkness that looked...strange. Less like darkness…

...and more like _ink_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's massively short, I know -- but don't worry, it doesn't need to be long to set us up for the next arc.
> 
> As this arc is the one I've been hugely looking forward to, expect it to be out within a reasonable time frame this time!! See if you can guess what's going on/where they've all ended up! If you guess right, you'll get an internet cookie. <3


	37. Land of the Forgotten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No sooner have the quartet arrived at this mysterious place, they're all separated: where will they end up, and who will they meet?
> 
> _To all who come to this happy place: Welcome._

The four of them came to on cobblestones, pale brown with odd patches of a colorless grey, and managed to stumble upright and look around.

“Where-- where the heck are we?” Lea asked, eyes wide. “What _is_ this place?”

It looked almost like Disney Town, Terra thought -- but... _not_. The patches that were colored were bright and saturated, almost too saturated even for a place that resembled the animated town, but there was obvious destruction all over the place: exposed scaffolding and the skeletons of the buildings, patches of the street missing to reveal water pipes and crumbling stonework and bent streetlights -- it was like a bomb had hit it all. But...not on a closer look. That showed that the missing patches of the building looked almost natural, the edges curved almost like something had dripped on it, and that was on top of the huge patches of colorlessness, like a black and white movie or a coloring book that hadn’t been filled in.

“I...don’t know,” Terra said, bewildered. “It’s nothing like anywhere I’ve ever seen before. I mean...a little, maybe, but-- I don’t know.”

“We should look around, then,” Ienzo said, heading down the street to where they could see a larger courtyard. “Maybe we’ll find a resident, see what we can find out.”

“Hope so,” Vanitas said, shaking his head. “This place is...it’s giving me the creeps.”

Terra couldn’t lie; it was giving him the creeps, too. The place seemed abandoned, or...no, he could almost catch glimpses of people hiding in shops along the street, eyes peering cautiously out from between closed blinds. Whatever this place was, its people were all...scared. Very scared. But of what, Terra wasn’t sure…

Though they didn’t have to wonder for very long. As they got to the courtyard, they were all knocked to the ground by the force of something metallic and skittery leaping from a scaffolded building nearby and directly in front of them. Lea swore loudly when he saw it, and Terra couldn’t actually blame him -- it was _horrifying_. A patchwork metal creature made of pieces of junk -- he could see the front end of a cartoonish vehicle as the body, spidery metal legs, a huge construction claw for one hand and a spinning device for the other, and its head was...some kind of metal face, one of its spotlight eyes hanging from a wire and dim, the other flashing, and its mouth in a rictus grin with a row of spiky metal teeth.

The boys all summoned their weapons to fight it, but as they all charged, the giant creature spun on its pivot of a waist like a carnival ride, its arm knocking them all across the courtyard. Terra tried to catch himself on a streetlight, but that only bought him enough time to see the others all thrown into what he now saw were...projector stands? Squares of white cloth on spindly black frames, old film strips playing on them like staticy videos -- but they were _portals_ , he realized. To where, he didn’t know, but he’d soon find out, as the machine’s claw arm came around again, and knocked Terra into one of them, too.

* * *

“Ow…” Vanitas groaned, staggering to his feet again and rubbing his head. “Well, clearly this isn’t a horrible nightmare, ‘cause I’d be awake now,” he muttered, brushing himself off and looking around. He was alone, he realized, which meant the others had all been tossed somewhere else. But at least it seemed like the place was the same world? Maybe?

He was inside some kind of mansion, really old fashioned and with peeling wallpaper and tattered...well, it looked like the place was ancient and abandoned, and as he looked around he swore he saw something transparent and pale pass through a wall. “Oh, no way,” he said. “I am _not_ stuck in a haunted mansion.” He turned around, looking for a door or another projector screen, and though he didn’t see the latter, the huge wooden double doors were right behind him -- but didn’t open even when he yanked hard enough to make him fall back on his ass. “Oh, come on!” He snapped.

Then he heard a soft giggle behind him, and he spun around. “Who’s there?” He called. Looking around, he saw someone peering from behind a hallway, what looked like a girl in black. “Hey!” He called to her, but she seemed to flinch and disappear into the hall. “Hey, come back!”

He charged up the steps after her, nearly tripping once he got to the hall as it seemed to stretch out farther than a hallway had any right to be, the paintings on the wall watching him -- no, literally watching him. Their _eyes_ moved. He gave one a rude gesture as he ran down the hall, sliding down another banister and into another hall that led into a huge ballroom. He was about two feet into it -- seeing the girl on the other end -- when what seemed like a dozen ghosts appeared in the room, dancing along to discordant music that came out of nowhere.

Vanitas had to admit that it was -- no, he wasn’t _scared_ , but it was pretty freaky. At least they were ghosts, he thought, and he could run right through them. Even if they were horribly cold, and it was creepy, and the ghosts all were like, half-skeleton people, and it was-- he really wanted to find that girl. She was sure as hell not a ghost. And if there was a living person in here, then he needed to find her. She could help him find the others, right? Or at least tell him where they were.

He got to the other end of the ballroom and into another hall, and he followed that to what looked like a huge library; well, a huge library with moving bookshelves, he realized. “This place is crazy,” he muttered, dodging a bookcase and scrambling after the girl, who seemed to be a little shadow in black darting around the place. Eventually, though, he cornered her in between a couple of bookcases, and she ducked down behind the table that was there, crouching and tugging the hood of her thin black jacket over her head.

“Don’t-- don’t come any closer!” She demanded nervously. “I’m scary like the ghosts. You-- you don’t wanna mess with me. I’m-- I’m really scary!”

“I’m scarier,” Vanitas said nonchalantly, moving closer. “And I don’t scare easy, anyway. So don’t worry about it. I just wanna talk to you, anyway.”

The girl swallowed, still a bit anxious, but she stood and came around from behind the table, tugging the hood off. She was about his height, wearing a short black dress under the jacket, and had short black hair -- but she looked like a doll, he realized. Her knees and ankles and hands had ball joints like dolls he’d seen, and her neck, too, and her face was...blank. She didn’t _have_ one, he realized. It was just smooth pale porcelain.

“Oh,” he said, and then shrugged. “It’s no big deal,” he told her. “I didn’t have a face once, either, so you’re nothing I haven’t seen in a mirror.”

The doll hesitated a moment, and then laughed, sounding a little relieved. “O-Oh,” she said. “I didn’t know it was-- it’s not normal, though, is it?” She asked. “I don’t know. I...I don’t really remember anything.”

“It’s not,” Vanitas admitted. “But hey, we’re alike anyway.” He frowned, though, studying her. “You don’t remember anything?” He asked.

“Nothing,” the girl confirmed. “Well...I remember the word ‘poppet’, though I-I don’t know what it means. Maybe it’s my name? It’s something to go by, anyway…”

“Poppet?” He asked. “It’s a weird name. But mine’s Vanitas, so we’re even.” He didn’t think it was her name -- it didn’t sound like a name at all -- but if it was what she remembered, it was better than being nameless.

Poppet laughed again, playing with the hem of a jacket sleeve. “It’s...nice to meet you, Vanitas,” she told him. “I hope you’re not lost,” she said. “This place is...it’s for forgotten things. The whole world is. Everyone here’s been forgotten, or has forgotten things. I don’t know much more than that, but it’s...a very sad place.”

“My friends and I got stuck here,” Vanitas said. “But we’ve been through weird shit before. It’ll be alright.” He studied her a moment. “I guess that’s why the people in the other part of the world were all hiding?”

“Mmhm,” she agreed. “Everyone’s sad here, sad and forgotten and missing what they forgot or the people who forgot them. It’s so gloomy and dark...I think it used to be different once, but then things happened and now it’s like this.” She shook her head. “I don’t want to be like that, though. I know I forgot things, but I don’t want to just sit and miss them. I want to find it again, even if I...I don’t know how.”

“I know the feeling,” Vanitas said suddenly, feeling a bit...like he understood the girl. Just a bit. “I’m...I’m someone’s missing piece,” he admitted. “Or someone’s mine. We’re two parts of a whole person, he and I, and it’s...I know what it’s like to have a hole in you and know you’re missing something important, and wanting to get it back more than anything in the world.” He grimaced. “Someone stole him from me,” he said, almost in a growl. “Again. Someone stole him and I’m gonna get him back and--” He shook his head. “S’why I’m here, kind of,” he said. “Finding my missing piece.”

He hesitated a moment, and then shrugged to himself -- if the others were still on the same world, he’d run into them eventually. “I can help you look, if you want,” he said. “For yours.”

Poppet brightened. “You would?” She asked. “I never-- thank you!” She said, and he felt like she’d be smiling if she had a face to smile with. “I don’t really know where to start, though…”

“Well, is there anything you can remember if you concentrate really hard?” Vanitas asked, and Poppet crossed her arms, thinking.

“I…” She began, resting her head in her hands as if thinking hard. “I keep coming back to a clock tower,” she admitted slowly, and then perked up. “I think there’s a clock tower in the Gremlin Village! Maybe it’s that one? Or maybe going there will--”

“Maybe it’ll help you remember something else!” He finished. “How do we get there?”

“Well, the main way to go from place to place here is with projectors,” she told him. “I think there’s one in the attic...we should go up there and see.”

“Lead the way!” Vanitas said with a grin and a mock bow, and Poppet giggled, taking the lead as the two headed upstairs. When they got up there, though, the doll gasped and stepped back, hands to her chest.

“Blotlings,” she murmured. “Ink monsters. And-- and other things, too, I don’t know what--”

“Heartless,” Vanitas said with a shrug, summoning his Keyblade. “I got this, okay? Just stand back.” The Blotlings kinda...looked like Heartless, he thought. Enough like the Shadows that were swarming the attic that he had a hard time telling them apart at first. But the Blotlings had weird round ears, not antennae, and black dots in their yellow eyes -- and some of them were in...tuxedos? _Weird_. Whatever they were, though, the Keyblade took care of them soon enough, and he turned to give Poppet a thumbs up. “See?”

“I see,” Poppet said with a laugh, hurrying over to him. “That weapon, it looks...kind of familiar? I don’t know why, though…” She shook her head, though. “I-I can help,” she adds. “In case there are more. I’m not gonna make you fight them on your own.”

“Go for it,” Vanitas said with a shrug. She did help out, then, as some more showed up when they got to the other end of the huge attic and the projector. She could use magic, he noticed, throwing Thunder and Blizzard spells at the Heartless and Blotlings. He wondered how she knew that stuff, but...well, it didn’t matter.

Part of him wondered why he was being so...nice to this girl. It wasn’t like he knew her or anything, and he wouldn’t get anything out of this. He should be going to find Terra and the others, not screwing around with a stranger, but...he _got_ her. A faceless kid, searching desperately for the part of her she was missing, the part she couldn’t remember but knew she needed back...he could understand that. He’d felt like that once, still felt like that now even though he had a face and knew what he was missing. It was weird...he didn’t think he’d ever identified with someone else before. After all, he didn’t care about anyone except Ventus and Terra and _maybe_ Lea. He was...a selfish jerk, he knew that. He was made of Darkness, and no amount of friendship or people being nice to him changed that, even if it was...even if he appreciated it more than he could really articulate.

But he _wanted_ to help this girl that was so much like him. So...screw it. Screw it, he would.

“C’mon,” he said, motioning to the projector. “Before more show up, let’s go.” Poppet nodded, and they both backed up and took a running leap into the projector, landing almost decently in the Gremlin Village.

They stood, and Vanitas looked around. “Whoah,” he said. “This place is trippy.” It was a far cry from the gloomy and creepy mansion, he decided. There were more bright colors and less patches of black-and-white, but there were also missing pieces in the carnival rides that littered the area, patches of oversaturated colors, and broken down machinery. But it was more alive than the mansion or the big street they’d shown up in, and there were _people_. Well...or something. Little green dudes with big moogle noses and crash helmets, dressed in different colored jumpsuits. Gremlins, probably? They were weird.

But friendly, though, even if none of them recognized Poppet. One of them even offered to take them to the clock tower in the village proper, since the area they’d arrived in was the front ‘ticket booth’ area, as they called it. Normally, the gremlin said, they’d have to go through the boat ride to get to the village, but he took them through _the back way_ \-- a series of dim corridors that he said led through the walls of the ride, and were a great shortcut for gremlins in a hurry. Vanitas had to admit, even if the place was supremely eerie and kind of depressing, it was also pretty cool.

Eventually, they emerged into the village, and though it was almost identical to the front area in layout, condition, and the rides, what was different was the huge clock tower that loomed above it. It was big and brown and patchwork, the clock face itself partially missing and the gears behind it visible. It wasn’t all that pretty, Vanitas thought, but hey, it was...pretty par for the course for this world so far.

“Oh…” He heard Poppet murmur, and he turned to look at her. Without a face, he couldn’t really tell what she was feeling, but the way she was sniffling and pressing a hand to her...mouth area, he had a feeling she was crying. “It’s not it,” she told him. “This isn’t it.”

“....Oh,” he said, not sure what to say. “You’re sure?”

She nodded. “I-I’m sure,” she said, lowering her hand to her chest. “A-And it hurts,” she added, desperately. “My chest hurts. It’s-- it’s familiar, but it’s _not it_ , and I-I miss something, I miss it so much it _hurts_ , and I don’t remember what it is!” Her voice rose and cracked, and she shook her head frantically. “But I know there’s a clock tower, I know it!”

“Hey,” Vanitas said, reaching out to take her other hand awkwardly. “There’s more than one clock tower in existence,” he said. “C’mon. We’ll find yours, don’t worry.”

She sniffled and squeezed his hand. “I...thanks…” She said, sighing sadly. “I just thought…”

The gremlin that had brought them to the village floated around to them, looking thoughtful (and startling Vanitas, who had forgotten he was there). “Maybe you’re thinking of Glockenspiel?” He suggested. “He’s another clock tower who lives nearby and keeps an eye on things around here. You might be remembering him? Or at least he might be able to point you in another direction!”

“...Lives nearby?” Vanitas asked, looking befuddled. “He’s...it’s a _he?”_

The gremlin nodded. “Yep!” He said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “He’s a he. C’mon, I’ll take you there!”

It wasn’t that far away, they realized, just a hop through another projector, and there they were, in front of the sentient clock tower. He was a hideous pastel patchwork monstrosity, Vanitas thought, with a goofy looking face on the clock itself -- but...it was alive, yeah? So the face at least made sense. Even if he was still really, really ugly.

“Does this guy ring a bell, Poppet?” He asked her, but she seemed distracted. “Poppet?”

“I...don’t think so,” she said slowly, “But...isn’t that one of those other monsters from before? A Heartless?”

Vanitas spun to look, and he swore loudly -- it was a Heartless alright; probably the worst one he could think of at the moment. It was a Possessor...and it was heading right into the clock tower. With a faint poof, it entered the building, and the whole thing turned black and yellow and purple, a Heartless symbol on the building proper and its goofy face turned into a typical Heartless caricature, with a zigzag mouth and big yellow lamplight eyes.

“You’re _joking_ ,” Vanitas groaned, summoning his Keyblade. “I take it back, the pastel monstrosity wasn’t so bad.”

With a whirring, mechanical noise, the possessed tower lifted a pair of giant, blocky arms. They shot out, one of them slamming into Vanitas and the other reaching to grab Poppet. Vanitas swore again, struggling to get up, and charged -- he wasn’t about to let this jackass hurt his new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIRST OF ALL YOU GUYS ARE WAY TOO GOOD AT GUESSING. /shakes fist
> 
> But anyway, here y'are, folks, it's the Wasteland arc, which is gonna be Huge plotwise. I hope you enjoy! No guessing game this chapter, because it's pretty damn obvious who Poppet is ;)
> 
> Anyway, PSA: I live in Florida -- which means that Irma is bearing down on my poor ass. I don't know what's gonna happen, but I'm gonna try to keep you informed and keep updating as much as I can for as long as I have internet. I'll be okay, though, promise! <3


	38. Dolls of Metal and Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Lea's turn to investigate where he's ended up, and there are a few new meetings: and one reunion, long awaited.
> 
> _That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget._

Lea groaned, shaking himself off as he stood and looked around. “Guys?” He called, but it was quickly obvious he’d ended up here alone. Wherever here _was_ , he thought, looking around curiously.

It was a cartoonish cul-de-sac, with a ring of houses (and a house _boat_ ) around a fountain and the road behind him leading to a huge building that looked like some kind of official place. The whole place seemed spotty, varying blotches of oversaturated, Disney Town-like colors with chunks of buildings and lawns melty and black-and-white. “Huh,” Lea muttered, before shrugging a little and heading into the cul-de-sac. Maybe someone would be around?

He was looking around, studying the odd-looking fountain and poking curiously at the thick, green paint-like liquid gushing from it, when he heard a voice behind him.

“Hey, there!” They called. “Yer not from around here, are ya?”

Lea turned, and stopped dead. “What the--” He managed, gaping. _“Goofy?!”_

It did look like Goofy, that was for sure, and Donald was with him, too. But...not the ones he knew. Unless they’d somehow turned into patchwork, mechanical robots when he wasn’t looking. And patchwork seemed to be an understatement -- Goofy had one spindly, metal-hinged arm and his clothes were torn and tattered to reveal the rest of his metal body, and his ‘eyes’ were half-smashed, revealing the light bulb behind them. Donald, similarly, was missing one of his ‘eyes’ to show the light beneath, and his stomach was hollow, so that Lea could see the giant spring that held him together. His paint-job was in slightly better shape than Goofy’s, but there were still large areas that were uncovered to show the metal beneath.

The not-Goofy looked genuinely surprised. “Gawrsh, you know us?” He asked, tilting his head with a metallic squeak, as if he desperately needed to be oiled. “How’zat?”

“Well, obviously he doesn’t know _us_ , numbskull!” The not-Donald snapped. “He probably knows the _real_ us, is how. Right?”

“Uh--” Lea managed, stammering. “Y-Yeah. The real you guys. I-- okay, what in the hell is going on here, exactly? I’m...I’m lost.” Which was honestly an understatement; this was one of the weirdest things he’d ever seen in his _life_.

The not-Donald and not-Goofy exchanged looks. “Well, yer in the Wasteland, pal,” the not-Goofy said. “It’s a lost world. Lost an’ forgotten people find themselves here -- it’s kinda...not anywhere, really? It jus’ _is_.” He shrugged. “It’s not really existin’, either, ‘cause without bein’ remembered, ya don’t really exist, do ya? The things that make ya exist, people’s memories of ya...if ya lose that, ya end up here.”

Lea was silent for a moment -- not because he didn’t have questions, but because the concept was just that horrifying to him. A world for the forgotten, that was-- that was _unfathomable_. Lea had always been obsessed with being remembered, even when he was little. To exist forever in people’s memories, to leave his mark and know that he’d left it. The thought of being forgotten was genuinely the most terrifying thing Lea could possibly imagine; it was a major reason why he’d hated being in Castle Oblivion. A castle that could make you forget was a nightmare.

And...he remembered her now, didn’t he? He remembered her now, but the thought that he’d forgotten, that _everyone_ had forgotten -- and that this was an entire world of people like her, people who’d been forgotten and erased...he shook his head. “But--” He began slowly, voice trembling a moment before he stopped and restarted. “But that doesn’t explain why you look like Donald and Goofy. The-- the real ones, I mean.”

The not-Donald rolled his good eye. “Well, duh,” he said. “We were _made_ to look like them, by Oswald and the Mad Doctor, ‘cause Oswald was lonely.”

“Who...who’s Oswald?” Lea asked, puzzled -- though he did feel somewhat guilty about having to ask, if this Oswald was one of the people whose existence had been forgotten.

“King Mickey’s big brother,” Not-Goofy said brightly. “King Oswald of th’ whole Wasteland. He’s been here since the beginnin’. He an’ the Mad Doctor were workin’ together to make this place a home fer all the people what end up here, but there was a fallin’ out -- we dunno what’s happenin’, ‘cause Oswald just told us to keep an eye on OsTown, but he an’ Queen Ortensia are tryin’ to stop the Mad Doctor from stealin’ a heart or makin’ one and leaving the world. He even captured the queen!”

“Don’t tell him all that, Goofy!” Not-Donald snapped. “He doesn’t need to know!”

Not-Goofy frowned. “But he’s got a heart,” he pointed out. “Th’ Mad Doctor could go after him, so it ain’t fair to not tell ‘im, Donald.”

“My friends are here, too,” Lea put in. “I’m not the only one with a heart in Wasteland right now. We all, uh...accidentally ended up here, and then a giant robot thing separated us.”

“A Beetleworx!” Not-Donald said. “The Mad Doctor made those -- he might already know you’re here.”

Lea frowned, holding up a hand. “Okay, gimme a sec,” he said slowly. “This Mad Doctor guy, he’s-- he used to be Oswald’s friend, but turned on him and kidnapped his wife as part of a plan to get out of here, and clearly he’s been wrecking the whole place in the process. Right?” The two robots nodded. “Okay. And being that my friends and I are walking hearts...we’re in trouble. So…” Well, it was about time he did something heroic. “Tell you what. I -- we’ll -- help you out with your problem. All I ask in return is that you guys help me find my friends so we can do that.”

“Gawrsh, really?!” Not-Goofy said, bouncing a little. “Thanks! The real us must be real lucky to have a friend like ya, uh--”

“Lea,” he supplied. “The name’s Lea.”

“Lea,” Not-Donald said, nodding sagely. “Well, like he said, thanks. We’ll help you find your friends--”

“Donald, Donald!” A third voice echoed in the street, and they turned to see a robotic Daisy (another weird thing that apparently Lea was getting used to now) running up to them, her hollow torso jingling slightly with the mechanisms inside. Both her eyes were empty of lights or anything, but it was still clear that she was concerned. “Something’s happened to Glockenspiel! He’s gone crazy, he’s smashing everything in the Gremlin Village!”

Not-Goofy gasped, and not-Donald let out one of his signature sputtering cries of shock. _“Whaaaaaaaaaat?!_ Daisy, how’s that-- what’s-- _whaaaaaaaaaat?!”_

“I don’t know!” Daisy said, shaking her head and clutching her hands to her chest. “I haven’t seen anything like it before!”

Lea looked from Daisy to Donald and Goofy, and stepped forward. “Well, either way, if you need help you’ve got me,” he offered. “I’m pretty good at problem-solving, and I owe you guys for helping _me_ anyway.”

“Oh, thank you!” The not-Daisy said, grabbing Lea’s hands and shaking them profusely. “Come on, I’ll take you to the Village!”

* * *

Lea pretty quickly decided he wasn’t about to get used to traveling via projector -- it was weird, and he wasn’t sure how it worked. It was fast, though, and he and not-Daisy stumbled out into the Village. It was swarming with panicking….gremlins? That’s what the robot had called them. Little green dudes.

He really didn’t blame them for panicking, though; he could see the clock tower from where he was, and it was...well, first of all it was pretty obviously being controlled by a Possessor. And secondly, holy shit, it had really big arms. Less clock tower and more ‘crazy cartoon building from hell’. And...wait.

Was that Vanitas?! He could see the boy on the door of the clock tower where a cuckoo clock would have its...thing, looking like he was out cold and bound by ropes of darkness. There was someone else with him, too, but he couldn’t see them clearly.

Well, regardless-- they needed help. Lea summoned his Keyblade and headed into the maelstrom of whirling mechanical arms. He’d have to figure out how to get up there somehow, but in the meantime, he’d try to get those arms under control.

Keyword ‘try’, it seemed, as he could barely get out of the way of one of the arms before another swept forward right to where he’d dodged to. He couldn’t go backwards out of reach, either, as the ground between the tower’s courtyard and the Village was unsteady and crumbling, and in front of him was a little lake. He swore under his breath, summoning a chakram alongside his keyblade, and using that as a makeshift shield to catch the blows, even if they still sent him skidding across the ground.

One of the blows finally knocked him to the ground entirely, and he tried to scramble to his feet only to stop halfway up when he realized the tower was bringing both hands down to bear on him in a hammer blow. He swore, raising his keyblade and chakram to catch the blow, squeezing his eyes shut and hoping it would be enough, when--

_“AXEL!”_

He froze, unable to quite believe what he was hearing, and had time to look up at the clock tower’s door. The other figure had pushed themselves to sit up, and though he couldn’t quite tell from here, it was-- they had dark hair, and that _voice_ \--

_This was the land of the forgotten,_ he realized. _It was her._

It was as if realizing that gave him strength he hadn’t realized he’d had, as he rolled out of the way of the blow the cracked the ground, leaping onto the thing’s arm and running up it as the figure -- her, it was _her_ \-- summoned a Keyblade of her own and broke the ropes of darkness holding her and Vanitas before starting to throw magic at the clock face. That’s where the Heartless must be, Lea realized, and he dismissed his Keyblade to summon his other chakram, setting both alight and throwing them at the clock face to aid her assault.

The tower made a mechanical noise of protest, loud and grating, and the Possessor -- or rather, a cloud of them, they realized, bunched up close enough that it had been easy to mistake for one big one -- melted out of the clock face. Once it had revealed itself, it was simple enough to kill, since Possessors were fairly weak, and the clock towers arms retreated back into its shell. Lea hurried down the arm he was on as they did so, leaping onto the tower door before his perch vanished.

That wasn’t what was on his mind at the moment, though -- no, he was still running, tackling the black-haired girl in a hug.

“Xion!” He managed, tears already in his eyes. _“Xion!”_

She was crying too, now -- he hadn’t really noticed the glow that had surrounded her a moment, a faint glow that had given back her face, her limbs normal and human again -- and she hugged him back tightly. “Axel,” she said. “It’s you! You came!” She buried her face in his chest and they clung to each other, Lea barely having the words to tell her it wasn’t Axel anymore.

Amid the reunion, there was a groan, and Vanitas sat up. He blinked a couple times, frowning. “Did I...miss something?” He asked, rubbing his head. “Besides the entire freaking fight, apparently.”

“Oh!” Xion laughed, wiping at her face. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just--” She waved a little at Lea. “My missing piece,” she said, and though Lea looked a bit confused, Vanitas seemed to understand her. “I’m Xion,” she told him. “I-I was a Replica, in the Organization. Sorta made out of Sora’s memories and things, it was complicated. But Axel was my best friend, and-- and when I went back to Sora everyone forgot me ‘cause I stopped...existing, I guess, and I guess I ended up here.”

Vanitas blinked, and then managed a smile. “Wow,” he said. “You’re really lucky we ended up here, then.” He stuck out a hand. “Well, it’s nice to meet you properly, I guess, one weird piece of a person to another.”

Xion giggled. “Nice to meet you properly too,” she said, shaking his hand before turning to Lea. “I dunno why you guys ended up here, but I guess you can tell me later! Whatever it is doesn’t really matter, ‘cause you know I’ll help you with anything, Axel.”

“Uh, you know I was a bad guy until like two weeks ago, give or take, right?” Lea said with a laugh. “Lucky you I’m on Sora’s side now, though, so we’re all good.” He grinned. “Oh, and it’s Lea now. Sorry to have you memorize something _else_.”

“Lea?” She repeated, and then beamed at him. “That means-- oh! That’s great! I’ll try to remember it, Lea,” she said, and then tapped her head with a wink and a giggle. “Not that you won’t make sure I do anyway, Mr. Got it Memorized.”

Lea pouted and the other two laughed, but then they all stood. One of the Gremlins -- having finally noticed the tower was back to normal -- flew over to show them how to get down, and the trio returned to the Village. Upon getting there, Vanitas and Xion stopped dead when they saw the robotic Daisy, Donald, and Goofy waiting, and turned to look at lea with identical expressions of confused shock. Lea had to laugh -- it was like old times, wasn’t it? Well, _almost_.

“They’re robot copies of the real deals,” he explained. “The, uh, robot Donald--”

“Animatronic!” Not-Donald put in, insulted.

Lea sighed. “Okay, the _animatronic_ Donald and Goofy explained that this world is ruled by Mickey’s...forgotten older brother, Oswald, somehow. He used to be bros with this guy called the Mad Doctor, but the doctor decided to start trashing the place in his search for a way to escape using a heart. He kidnapped Oswald’s queen, even, and I, uh...kinda promised to help out if they helped me find you and the others we’re here with.”

“Figures,” Vanitas said with a roll of his eyes. “Gotta be a hero wherever we go, right? Well, whatever, it’s not like Terra isn’t gonna agree to help soon as he hears about it anyway.” He shrugged. “Where do we start?”

Xion looked thoughtful. “I’ve heard about some of this,” she admitted. “At least about the king of Wasteland and the Mad Doctor. People whisper about it a lot. It’s where the creepy bad robots come from.” She crossed her arms. “Maybe we should go find the king? If his queen is in trouble…”

“I dunno,” the animatronic Goofy said reluctantly. “Oswald hasn’t been ‘round since Queen Ortensia got captured...we think he’s jus’ cooped up in his house up in th’ Mountain since.”

“That’s no good,” Lea said. “But it’s a place to start! Will you guys take us there?”

“Sure we will!” The animatronic Daisy agreed as Goofy nodded, despite Donald’s loud and squawking protests. “Maybe seeing some new faces will get him out of his funk!”

She motioned to the trio as she headed to the projector. “This way, you three, come on now!” Lea and the other two exchanged looks, shrugging and heading after her. This would be interesting, Lea thought -- what would Mickey Mouse’s older brother be like?

Given the state of this world...he wasn’t sure it would be a pleasant meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE REUNION i mean tho u knew it was gonna happen
> 
> i will never entirely be okay with how absolutely creepy the animatronic gang is, like WOW. and the clock tower more like NIGHTMARES AHOY???? whew. but i love the ambiance, and it's such a good and fitting place for a kingdom hearts story.
> 
> anyway, yes, i really am putting stuff out this fast -- i hope you enjoy!


	39. The Lucky Rabbit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We join Terra and Ienzo, now, on the slopes of a mountain junkyard. First they meet a king, and then...another reunion is possible, this one both unexpected and long awaited. But is it going to be happy one?
> 
> _I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing — that it all started with a mouse._

Terra groaned -- his head was killing him, and he wasn’t even sure where he was. Sitting up hadn’t gotten him anywhere, because all he could see was a huge mountain around him of...stuff. Familiar stuff, in a creepy sort of way. Things that reminded him again of Disney Town, and a lot of things that looked like they belonged to King Mickey -- they had his mark on them, at least, the silhouette of his head.

Looking around again, though, he thought he saw-- hurrying over, he realized he’d been right; it was Ienzo, and Terra knelt to shake the younger boy awake. He groaned, sitting up and shaking his head. “Well, that went spectacularly,” he said dryly, rubbing his temple. “Do we know where we are?”

“Still a resounding ‘no’,” Terra admitted. “Though this place is creepy as hell. Let’s see if we can find anyone up here.”

“You mean in this monument of slightly disturbing obsession?” Ienzo said, looking around in bemusement. “Well...let’s hope they’re friendly.”

The two boys started heading up the mountain, keeping an eye out for trouble -- nothing obvious seemed to be going on, though there were some scattered Heartless and other strange Heartless-looking monsters, not to mention the eerie patchwork robots. They were a lot smaller than the one that had knocked them all into projectors, though, and were pretty easy to knock around.

“We’re being watched,” Ienzo murmured after a while. “Have you seen them?”

Terra frowned. “I’ve been seeing... _something_ ,” he admitted. “It’s moving too fast.” Whatever it was, it had been small bluish blurs. Nothing he could focus on. He wondered if eventually it would reveal itself -- it had to, given how many Heartless they’d been taking out. If it was something bad, it would want to take them out, and if it wasn’t...well, they were helping it, right?

_Or_ he could be wrong entirely and they could be swarmed by a seemingly endless mob of baby rabbits, shouting about ‘intruders’ and all but carrying them off to the very top of the mountain, where there seemed to be a dark and somewhat grim sanctuary. They were eventually dumped on the floor in what looked like a throne room, and Terra looked around. The walls were covered in paintings and photographs -- of Mickey and the others? They were all defaced, though, in a juvenile sort of way; thick eyebrows and moustaches drawn on, or monocles and other embarrassing things scribbled on them in ink. Whoever this was, Terra thought, must really not like the king.

“You!” It was only after he spoke that Terra and Ienzo realized someone had been sitting on the throne, and as they hopped off it, it was clear that the person that was confronting them was a rabbit as well, looking strangely like Mickey even as he looked angry. “You’re not from Wasteland, who the heck do you think you are, trespassing on _my_ mountain! Did the Mad Doctor send you?” He stormed up to them, glaring with an impressive amount of annoyance and suspicion, and Terra had to lean back a little. “How did you get here, how did you find this place?! Don’t just sit there, come on, say something!”

“I-I--” Terra tried, a bit taken aback. “Well, uh, we’re not-- we’re not sure how we got here, sir, we’re just-- uh, I’m Terra, I’m a Keybearer, we didn’t mean to trespass or anything--” He trailed off, though, as his mention of being a Keybearer had seemed to affect the rabbit, causing him to droop a little and look almost resigned.

“A Keybearer, huh?” He said, ears flopping down. “Shoulda known. You guys are real meddlers, ya know that? Figures you’d wind up here sooner or later.” He motioned to the baby rabbits, still hovering around the edges of the room “Go on, get, go back to your rooms, kids,” he said. “Your old man’s fine. Shoo.”

They disappeared into the walls and hallways, and the rabbit turned back to Terra and Ienzo. “C’mon,” he said, sighing. “Guess I better be civil.” He led them to where the throne was, and flopped down onto the steps. Terra and Ienzo sat, too, and watched the rabbit expectantly, still a bit unsure as to what this was all about. 

“Name’s Oswald,” the rabbit said. “Well -- King Oswald of the Wasteland, if you please. Though more importantly, I’m one of the founders of Disney Town _and_ that dumb ol’ mouse’s big brother.”

“What?!” Terra yelped, startled, as Ienzo’s eyes widened. “Mickey’s older brother?”

Oswald rolled his eyes. “Figures you know the troublemaking little brat, huh,” he said. “Do all you Keyblade-wielding do-gooders know each other? Eh, doesn’t matter. You’re here, you know him, it all just boils down to my terrible luck.”

“Why are you here, Oswald?” Ienzo asked. “Did something-- no, obviously something happened, since you’re here in this... _place_ , and we never knew Mickey had a brother. What happened to you?”

“Stupid happened,” Oswald said with a snort. “A truckload of stupid, courtesy yours truly -- although Mick was a big ol’ idiot, too. He’s always an idiot, though, so that isn’t _new_.” He leaned back, crossing his arms. “It was...fifty years ago, I think? Time moves weird for us ‘toons, and doubly so in this hellscape. Whenever it was, it was when things were starting to change in Disney Town. The place was gettin’ bigger, livelier, more and more people, and, well -- me an’ Mick had a disagreement over a few things. Well, one big thing,” he admitted grudgingly, as if it still stung to admit -- Terra got the feeling Oswald didn’t like to admit in general that he’d messed up, too. The pictures on the wall showed he probably liked to blame it on Mickey. 

“What did you disagree on?” Ienzo asked.

“Easy,” Oswald said. “The Cornerstone. You know about that ol’ thing, right?” Terra and Ienzo exchanged looks, shaking their heads. “Ah. Well, basically it’s this...cornerstone. Of light. Exactly what it says on the tin. Mick and I built the castle on top of it, and it protects the whole world from Darkness. Mick’s always been pleased as punch to have it around, and though I don’t blame him, I didn’t like the way things were headin’ with us relying on it so much.” He made a face. “Relyin’ on a big glowing hunk of rock to keep our whole world safe is reckless, I told him -- what if it’s not perfect, are we just gonna sit there and go _oh no, whatever shall we do, our one line of defense is useless_ and wring our hands while the darkness gets us?” 

“I can see both sides,” Terra admitted. “My world, the one I grew up on, it was protected like that. I mean-- we were Keybearers, yeah, but growing up on a world like that, we weren’t prepared at _all_ for when we had to face the rest of the universe. It was kind of a mess,” he added, laughing. “But on the other hand, if you have protection like that, it’s...definitely something to appreciate. Other worlds aren’t so lucky.”

Oswald snorted. “You think I haven’t thought about that every day since I messed up?” He asked pointedly. “Whoever was right -- me, by the way -- I still threw a tantrum and smashed a jug holding in some nasty ol’ creature from before the Town was founded, the Phantom Blot.” He grimaced. “We all tried to stop it -- s’why Mick went out to find that old Keyblade wizard we’d heard about -- an’ we did, eventually, but me and my girl Ortensia, and a huge chunk of the Town got dragged with the Blot into this...weird pocket in the Realm of Darkness. We beat it there, my best girl and I, but the explosion...on the one hand, it made Wasteland as ya see it, our Disney Town but not, but on the other hand we got trapped here.”

He grimaced, kicking at the steps below him. “Didn’t take long for us to figure out that getting stuck here made the world outside this pocket forget us -- wiped us all from existence, like we’d never been. It took our hearts and made us shadows of who we used to be, just...stuck here in nonexistence, knowin’ that stupid ol’ mouse and his friend just went on without us.”

“I’m sorry,” Terra said sincerely -- he couldn’t imagine what that would be like. Not only trapped here, but...forgotten? And knowing you were forgotten, that no one would come to get you because no one even knew you existed? No wonder Oswald seemed so grumpy and the rest of the world seemed so melancholy. “Have you tried to figure out a way to get out?”

Oswald huffed. “Course I have!” He protested. “But…” A sigh, and he looked away. After a long silence, though, he looked at Terra again and shook his head, continuing reluctantly. “The Mad Doc’s gone madder, recently. Someone creepy met with him, and then he up and decided our original plan -- the Beetleworx machines -- wasn’t workin’, so he decided to start stealing the hearts of people outside Wasteland, and givin’ em to us so we could leave. S’the only way to leave, he says, and…” He trailed off and shook his head. “Ortensia and I didn’t wanna think like _that_ \-- stealing other people’s hearts would just get _them_ stuck here, yeah? I wouldn’t wish this on anyone -- so we said no, but…”

“But he went and started trying anyway,” Terra said. “Figures...and I bet you anything I know exactly who the creepy guy is -- he’s the same guy _we’ve_ been dealing with.”

“Well, that’s just great,” Oswald grumbled. “And on top of all that, he took Ortensia. Our kids have been goin’ nuts over it...and anyway, there’s not much of a point _now_. Bet you anything the Doc’s already got his heart -- once he can get out, he’s probably gonna beeline straight for the Town...”

Ienzo and Terra exchanged looks. “What do you mean, he already has a heart?” Ienzo asked. “You said you can’t leave, so how would he have found one...?”

“Well, there was someone else that showed up here before you,” Oswald said with a shrug. “Some girl. She didn’t show up in the mountain, so I don’t know much, but one of my kids saw her wandering around Ventureland. Same way you did, I bet, some messed up corridor -- they've been happening a lot lately. Mostly they spit out Heartless, but I guess now they’re spitting up poor saps trying to use ‘em. At any rate, the Doc’s probably got her by now.”

Terra was on his feet before Oswald was finished talking. _“Aqua!”_ He said, shocked. “It’s got to be Aqua. That’s-- she’s my friend, we’ve been looking for her-- do you know how to get to Ventureland, where is it? I have to find her before--”

“Like I said, kid, there’s no point,” Oswald said, sounding a bit exasperated. “Even if you do find her, you and whoever you’re with can’t _leave_. You think we haven’t tried corridors? They just don’t work right here. With or without a heart, you and her and everyone else are trapped here just like us.” He shook his head. “If she’s a Keybearer, the Doc won’t be able to get anything from here, and it’ll all just stay the same as it’s always been.”

Ienzo frowned, not sure what to say to that but knowing that he certainly wanted to -- but Terra solved that problem before could come up with a rejoinder.

“So what, you’re giving up?” Terra snapped. “That’s _it?_ You’re gonna sit here in a pile of Mickey’s old stuff feeling sorry for yourself and holding a stupid grudge, let your girlfriend get held hostage by this mad doctor and just-- never _try?_ Are you _kidding_ me?”

Oswald stood, too, looking angry. “You think I haven’t _been_ trying?” He snarled back. “I’ve been fighting for _fifty years_ to free the people I got stuck in here! I’m _tired_ , kid! I’ve been fightin’ since before you were born twice over, I’ll bet you anything -- you’ve got no idea the crap we went through just to settle in Disney Town, the battles we fought! The battles _I_ fought, since my kid brother was too busy charming everyone’s pants off to do the dirty work! All my fighting just ended us up here, though, and I’m done! I can’t fight anymore, kid, this is _it!_ It’s a stalemate, and it’s gonna _be_ a stalemate, and there ain’t nothing anyone can do, so I’m _done!”_

“So you’re a coward, then, is that it?” Terra responded. “So _what_ if you’re tired? If you give up, you’re just resigning everyone here to be stuck here forever! Have any of your kids even seen Disney Town, seen the castle _you_ helped build? Do you want them to be stuck in this place the rest of their lives? If you’re tired, get up and keep going anyway! That’s what a king is supposed to do, that’s what _Mickey_ does!”

Oswald stomped one of his feet, all but visibly fuming and red with indignant rage. “Don’t you dare mention that little brat in front of me!” He shouted. “He’s never done a day of work in his life! He just-- he’s just charming and friendly and talks your ears off to make you forget he was just a-a _nobody!_ We _both_ were, til we decided to make somethin’ of ourselves and make the world a place we could all live in! All he ever does is talk and talk and get himself and his pals into trouble! It was _me_ who had to get him out of it! He’s-- he hasn’t done anything kingly _once_ in his life! He’s only king ‘cause the others gave him the crown, ‘cause they liked him more than me!”

“Then you don’t know your brother very well at all!” Terra said. “He’s led his kingdom well, he’s _fought_ for it! You said he wasn’t a Keybearer yet last time you saw him -- well, he is now! He’s a Keybearer and he’s fought to save _dozens_ of worlds, not just his! He’s had to make tough decisions, now, since you aren’t there -- he doesn’t even know you exist anymore! If he’s as useless as you say he is, he wouldn’t be anything without you, right? Well, he _is_ \-- he’s a good Keybearer and a good king and maybe you should consider what that means for _you!”_ He shook his head. “If he’s something without you, maybe you’ve just been blind to who he really is the whole time, and maybe _you_ should be more like _him!”_

Oswald flinched back as if slapped, his anger fading and his ears drooping again. “He’s-- he’s really made it that far without me?” He asked quietly, and Terra nodded. “Then I guess...I guess he’s not so much a useless brat after all.” He sighed, kicking at the ground, and then looked up, face determined. “And I guess _I’m_ gonna have to show you I’m _still_ better than that darn mouse! You wanted to get to Ventureland, right? Well, come on! Let’s go get your friend and then put the boot to the Mad Doctor! If he can be all stupid and heroic, then so can I!”

Terra had to grin at that, flashing Ienzo a triumphant -- if a bit startled -- expression. Ienzo, for his part, was pretty impressed -- he hadn’t really expected to hear all that from Terra, but then again, even after two and a half weeks or so, did he really know Terra at all? He wasn’t even sure _Terra_ knew himself completely anymore. He was probably as surprised at the outburst as Ienzo and Oswald had been. But...in the end, every surprise at himself was more he learned about the kind of man he was now, after all he’d gone through. And the more he learned about who he really was, about what was in his heart, the easier it would be to hold his own against the darkness -- certainty and confidence were the worst enemies of the doubt that Xehanort created.

\--------------------------------

Oswald led the two boys through a projector screen to Ventureland, and it wasn’t hard to follow Aqua’s trail. The ‘toons that lived there and the animatronic pirates pointed them easily through another projector to Tortooga -- they said the girl had seemed pretty single-minded, if a bit off, and had just automatically headed there as soon as she heard there was a monster problem.

Heading into Tortooga, it was pretty quickly obvious that something was wrong, given the smoking and smashed wreckage of Beetleworx all over the stone port, along with puddles of ink that Oswald said were destroyed Blotlings -- which in turn were fragments of the Phantom Blot that still lingered around after they’d destroyed him -- and absolutely no Heartless. That worried Terra almost more than if there had been some -- the amount of _destruction_...Aqua wasn’t normally like this.

They found her not too long after, in the jungles behind the fort area. Oswald had led the way, using the sabre he carried to cut a bit of a path through the foliage, but she wasn’t far in. 

Terra stopped dead when he saw her, and he felt Ienzo bump into him from behind. “So, uh...is she _always_ like this?” Oswald asked, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.

“No,” he said quietly, watching her tear through the Beetleworx and Blotlings that surrounded her with a kind of frightening, driven sort of violence, a ferocity he’d never seen before. She’d always been an elegant fighter, focusing more on magic and agile blows and acrobatics -- her right now, she was...she was fighting like _him_ , all brute force and anger. It made his genuine relief at seeing her again that much more tempered with worry. “I’ve-- I don’t know what’s wrong with her.”

He shook his shock off and stepped forward, holding his hands up placatingly. “Aqua?” He called cautiously. “Aqua, it’s-- it’s me. You can stop now, it’s okay. It’s okay.”

She froze when he started talking, though, Keyblade -- _Eraqus’s_ , he realized with a sharp stab of old guilt -- dropping to the ground, and she slapped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. “No!” She cried out, shaking her head. “No, you’re not real! You’re just my imagination, I _know_ you are! Leave me alone, I’ve had enough! I need-- I need to find them! I need to find them! Go _away!”_

Terra took a shocked step backward. “Aqua, I’m not-- it’s _me_ ,” he repeated. “It’s really me, it’s not your imagination. I’m real, I promise.” A memory, weak and faint, stirred in the back of his head. Hadn’t he found her once, while she was lost? A fragment of his smothered heart, close to her as they were lost in the same Darkness...he thought...he _thought_ it had happened. Or a dream, maybe. Maybe a dream for both of them, and now Aqua, at least, couldn’t tell the difference. “I’m real, Aqua, please listen. It’s okay. You’re _safe_ now.”

“She won’t...she won’t hear you, Terra,” Ienzo said quietly, causing him to turn and look at the other. “Her aura, it’s...she’s smothered in Darkness. Not hers, but-- the Realm of Darkness left a mark, a deep one. She’s so wrapped up in that Darkness she’s been trapped in, it’s like-- it’s like a fog, and she can’t find her way out. I think finding you two is the one thing she’s been focusing on, so that’s-- that’s the only thing she’s _capable_ of focusing on.” He shook his head. “It’ll take more than just calling out to her to free her, Terra.”

Terra swallowed, stepping back again, and then something occurred to him. A hand slipped into his pocket and touched a cool glass vial -- it was still there. Good. He pulled it out, the dark liquid within sloshing against its container. “See if you can distract her, Ienzo,” he asked. “Just for a minute, that’s all I need. I think I know how to save her.”

He really hoped this worked -- if it didn’t, he...he wasn’t sure what he’d do. But regardless, he needed to _try_. He needed to save her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE BITCHES THOUGHT YOU'D BE WAITING LONGER FOR AQUA DIDN'T YOU
> 
> also thank you 0.2 for giving me the ultimate in 'boy she's really not gonna be okay is she'
> 
> in other news, I LOVE OSWALD FIGHT ME IN THE PIT and i really enjoyed coming up with a sort of backstory for disney town and an alternate reason for wasteland's existence - given KH, yknow. my lil rabbit boy.
> 
> (shoutout to an aquaintance of mine who RPs oswald on tumblr -- I LOVE YOU AND YOUR MUSE AND THIS IS DEDICATED TO U)


	40. Dark Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To aid one of his dearest friends, Terra must first face her darkness. How will he fare against the shadows that plague her, her darkest thoughts given form?
> 
> _“...that fine, clean, unspoiled spot down deep in every one of us that maybe the world has made us forget.”_

Distracting her, as Terra, Oswald, and Ienzo quickly discovered, wasn’t as easy as they’d initially expected. Having lingered for longer than hallucinations tended to, she seemed to flip rather quickly to thinking they were enemies. Her attention thus diverted, she was focused fully on trying to kill the three of them. Terra in particular was mildly terrified by this -- they’d always been evenly matched in their friendly matches of the past, but those hadn’t been...it was frightening to see her treating him like an enemy, especially with her muddled mind.

Eventually -- with the combined efforts of Oswald all but jumping directly onto her face and Ienzo casting Stopga for the fifth time -- they managed to subdue her, and Terra rushed over. “It won’t hold her for very long!” Ienzo warned. “Hurry, Terra!”

“I know!” Terra replied quickly, uncorking the vial and hesitating. “M’sorry, Aqua,” he added. “But I promise this is gonna help.” That said, he forced her to swallow the contents of the vial, stumbling back and praying quietly that it would do what he hoped it would. If it was supposed to make all the darkness in you take form -- like it had pulled Xemnas out of him -- then whatever would form from the darkness that had stained Aqu...defeating it would restore her. Or-- or it _had_ to.

Almost immediately, Aqua’s body was surrounded by darkness that seemed to be coming out of her entire body, the smoky tendrils coalescing and taking shape into a humanoid form. Eventually that form solidified into another Aqua -- though at the same time, she was very different from the Aqua still on the ground. Her clothes were darker, subtly different, and her eyes were dark as well, nearly black -- even the way she stood and held herself was _off_. She looked around, shaking herself off and setting her sights eventually on Terra. When she saw him, an eyebrow rose, and her lips quirked in an almost derisive smile.

“It really _is_ you, then,” she said, putting a hand on her hip. “Though I can’t imagine why you’d want to show your face in front of me after all this time.” Terra’s hand tightened on his Keyblade -- _her_ Keyblade -- but he didn’t flinch. “You _are_ a murderer, after all,” she said, scoffing. “A murderer and a traitor, long since fallen to the Darkness. If you knew what was good for you, _Terra_ , you’d have stayed out of my way.”

“I--” Terra shook his head. “I won’t deny anything you’re accusing me of,” he said finally, head high and willing to meet her gaze. “I made mistakes. I listened to Xehanort when I knew it was stupid, and I _didn’t_ listen to you. I killed Master Eraqus, regardless of whether I meant to or not. I did all that. But I didn’t fall to the Darkness -- I was scared of it, and it nearly consumed me, yeah, but...it’s not something evil. Master was wrong about that, Aqua. It just...Darkness just _is,_ and so is Light. It’s part of me. I can accept that now, and I’m going to make up for all the mistakes I made.” 

He knew trying to talk this dark Aqua down was pointless, but still; he had a point to make. “We all made a lot of mistakes back then,” he added. “But we can make up for them _together_. We can save Ven and stop Xehanort.”

The dark Aqua snorted. “Sounds like excuses to me,” she said, twirling her Keyblade. “Excuses from a weak man who leans on the Darkness like a crutch -- not that I’m not surprised, though,” she added, scoffing. “You were always weak. I’ve always been better than you, Terra, and we both know that. _I_ made Master, _my_ heart wasn’t weak enough to break like poor Ven’s and _my_ heart was too strong to give into the Darkness like _you_.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry, Terra,” she added, speaking as if talking to a disobedient child. “I don’t need you -- I’ll stop Xehanort all on my own. I’m stronger than I was, stronger than him now, I’ll bet. I’ll kill him and get Ven back, and then I’ll be the only Keyblade Master left. The worlds are all out of balance now, aren’t they? I can put them right -- and I will. The worlds need guidance, they need to see the light, and _I’ll_ be the one to guide them. I’ll bring light to _everyone_ , and anyone who stands against me? They’ll regret that just like Xehanort will.” 

She pointed her Keyblade at him. “And I can start right now,” she added. “With his favorite vessel.”

Before Terra could say anything further, she darted across the field, cloaking her Keyblade in blue magic and striking. He barely had time to get his Keyblade up to block before she was on him. She’d been right about one thing, he realized quickly as they exchanged blows: she’d definitely gotten stronger. Her magic was hitting him with twice as much force as he could remember; his breath and the air around them was almost visible with the weight of the ice magic hanging in it, and she was faster, too. He had always had trouble keeping up before, but now it was even more difficult.

But she wasn’t the only one who had gotten stronger -- so had he. Maybe not in the way he would have wanted, but he was still stronger now. He let an ethereal blade appear in his other hand, and the surprise in that was able to catch her off balance, knocking her to the ground. She flipped back to standing position quickly, though, raising her eyebrows. “You really _are_ using the Darkness, now,” she noted. “How far you’ve fallen.”

“Have I really?” He asked, pressing the attack even as the spoke. “Is the Darkness really so bad? I don’t think so -- the only evil here is the people using it for that cause.”

The dark Aqua snorted. “Delusional,” she said dismissively. “There’s no exceptions -- it’s _evil_.”

“You’re wrong,” Terra said. “And I know the _real_ you knows it, too -- that it’s not as simple as we were always taught.” But he didn’t press the point any further; there wasn’t much point anymore. This dark Aqua wouldn’t listen. He just had to take care of her now and then the real one would be restored. He didn’t think that this would fix everything immediately -- no, she’d need a lot more time to rest and recover -- but this would be a start. And then they’d see each other again, _really_ see each other, for the first time in a decade.

And if he was wrong, and she was still-- she still didn’t believe in him, he’d just have to show her she could trust him. He knew he needed to earn that back, anyway.

The fight raged throughout the clearing and even into the jungle at points, the two of them bouncing off mossy boulders that Terra could easily send flying at his opponent, and splashing through streams that froze solid in the dark Aqua’s wake. He caught glimpses of Ienzo and Oswald still in the clearing, Ienzo with a Protega spell around the two of them, but that was only briefly on his register before going back to the fight. 

Part of him was reminded, strangely, of their Mark of Mastery exam -- that had been the last time they’d fought, hadn’t it? At least, as each other. He was sure Xehanort had gone after her at least once while in his body. Did that count? Either way, it was oddly familiar, even as it wasn’t. 

She had summoned the blade of magic around her Keyblade, and he was dodging it without much chance to counter -- and a glance over his shoulder saw what seemed like a waterfall close behind him. That wouldn’t end well. He took a breath and called his darkness, grabbing a thick tree branch with a claw of it extending from his Keyblade and swung around it, slamming shoulder-first into the dark Aqua and sending them both flying back towards the clearing. 

He was up first, watching the dark Aqua. She didn’t move after a few moments, and he paused, hesitating before kneeling to check if she was conscious -- 

And he had no time to react when she lashed out, swinging her Keyblade forward and sending him crashing into a tree hard enough that he felt it splinter beneath him. He tried to recover, and-- he couldn’t move, he realized. He struggled, trying to get out of whatever was holding him, and couldn’t; with a drop of his stomach, he looked down to see glowing, white-gold chains of light binding him to the tree, tight and painful. It was -- it was like what Eraqus had been able to do, he realized. Maybe it was a trick all Masters knew how to do? Or maybe just those with little Darkness in them. Either way, he couldn’t escape. 

He could see Ienzo and Oswald starting forward, but with a flick of her Keyblade as she approached, a wall of ice separated them from Terra and the advancing dark Aqua. He could see a faint glow on the other side, probably fire spells as they tried to break through it, but it would take too long, he was sure of it. He struggled more, calling his Keyblade back to his hand and trying to break free, but to no avail.

“Shhh,” the dark Aqua said, reaching him and putting a finger to his lips. “Don’t struggle so much. It’ll hurt worse.” 

She stepped back, hefting her Keyblade. “Now, it’s time to do what Eraqus should have done ten years ago,” she said with a wicked smile. “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt much if you stay still.”

She raised the Keyblade high over her head, preparing to bring it down on Terra...and stopped. Terra blinked, surprised, and both of them looked down as one to see another Keyblade -- identical to the one the dark Aqua held in her hands -- protruding from her chest. 

She faltered and staggered, dropping to her knees, and Terra’s eyes widened to see Aqua, the _real_ Aqua, standing unsteadily behind her shadow.

“He’s not...he’s not weak,” she told her doppelganger, voice shaky with exhaustion. “He’s been fighting. All this time, he’s-- he’s fought. I know he has. He hasn’t-- he never _fell_.” She called her Keyblade back to her hand. “And...and I should have trusted him more. We did both make mistakes. But we will-- we _will_ fix them together. We’ll save Ven.” 

The dark Aqua faded into mist and dissipated, the chains going with her, and Terra shot forward to catch Aqua as she fell.

“Aqua!” He cried. She felt so light in his arms, he thought; how badly had she been doing until now? “Are you alright?”

She managed a tearful smile at him. “I will be,” she murmured. “You’re safe...you won? I’m...glad. I knew you were fighting him...I had to believe you would-- you wouldn’t disappear.” Her voice broke, and she reached up to touch his cheek as if making sure he was really there. “But you did it. We’ll...we’ll save Ven, won’t we? We’ll be together again.”

“We will,” he promised, his own voice shaking a little. “We’ll all be together again, Aqua. I promise.”

She smiled. “Good,” she said, voice trailing off, and she closed her eyes. Terra’s heart skipped a beat when her hand fell from his face, but he quickly reassured herself that she was only sleeping.

He brushed some hair from her face absently, unable to keep from either smiling or letting a tear escape him. She was alright, she was _alive_. She was here. They both were. It wasn’t perfect, not yet, but-- but it was that much closer to the three of them being reunited. He knew that they had a long way to go before they could rest, really, but if they were together, that was...that was more than enough until that day.

First Aqua, and then Ven...things would begin to be right again. He’d be able to make them right again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, that was fun!
> 
> everyone has a little darkness in them, and it was fun to play with aqua's a little. but she's with our heroes now, yay! though, spoilers, she won't be doing much for a bit: she has a long recovery ahead of her. ;v; (and though im sure she and terra have a lot of things to work out, she's seen him fight xehanort; she knows, at the very least, he's still terra.)
> 
> that said, it's time for the wrap up~! two more chapters left in this arc :D
> 
> (also, update: i am at my cousins' house on the west coast of FL, so we should be safe here. will keep updating as long as i have power to do so!)


	41. A way forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aqua's dark side defeated and everything...well, sort of back on track, the group reunites, and now? And now it's time to face the past, and find a way to save Wasteland's future. It's time for the lucky rabbit, and all the forgotten, to find a way home.
> 
> _"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."_

Terra had nearly forgotten he wasn’t alone in the clearing when the wall of ice nearby finally shattered, and Ienzo and Oswald stuck their heads through the hole they’d melted, looking a bit concerned.

“...is it over?” Oswald ventured, looking around and spotting Terra and the unconscious Aqua. “Oh good, it’s over! Terra, your girl is _crazy_ , did you know that? Are all of you Keybearers that crazy? ‘Cause-- _wow_. I mean, like I said, crazy, but also kind of awesome?”

Terra stifled a laugh, picking Aqua up as he stood. “Mostly, yeah,” he agreed. “Varying levels of crazy, but...yeah. We’re basically all kind of like this.”

“Wow,” Oswald said. “Wonder where Mick is on that…”

“You’ll find out soon enough, won’t you?” Ienzo asked, heading over to Terra. “Is she alright?”

“Yeah,” Terra said. “She’s alright. Just out cold.” He sighed, glancing down at her with a fond smile. She was really here. He hadn’t seen her in...a decade, maybe more. Save for dreams, of course, a half-remembered encounter in the Realm of Darkness, but that was-- this was-- they were _here_. Together. She was...god, he’d missed her so much. He’d been so worried, and obviously he’d had good reason to be. But she was alright now. They both were, or they would be. And they’d save Ven.

“Hey,” Ienzo said, pulling him out of his thoughts. “Let’s head back to Ventureland, alright? I can patch you both up there. You did take a few hits, you know.”

“Really?” Terra asked dryly, though he was smiling. “I hadn’t noticed. I usually feel like I got hit by a truck.”

“Considering how reckless you are, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Ienzo shot back, smiling as well. “Really, though, if we’re going to find the others and deal with the Mad Doctor, you should get a little rest first.”

Oswald, already a few feet ahead of them, turned back to nod. “Yeah,” he agreed. “And I can have someone go looking for the rest of you while we wait. I got my ways.”

However, when they arrived at Ventureland again, it seemed like the others had found them first. The animatronic Donald, Goofy, and Daisy -- all incredibly creepy, in Terra’s opinion -- had rushed Oswald, seemingly happy to see him, and Terra and Ienzo moved around them to talk to Lea and Vanitas...and their guest?

“Hey, wait, Aqua’s here?” Vanitas asked, surprised. “When did she-- how the hell-- what?” He stepped forward, squinting at her and Terra’s injuries. “Did you two _fight?_ Why would she…?”

“It’s...not really important,” Terra said, a little sheepishly. “The Realm of Darkness, it...messed her up a little bit, that’s all. We’re alright.” He shook his head. “You don’t need to worry. A-Anyway, who’s this?” He asked, indicating the girl with them.

“I’m Xion,” the girl said with a smile. “I, um-- I’m a Replica, actually! Number fourteen.” Ienzo let out a surprised noise, eyebrows rising, and she nodded. “Ax-- oh, uh, Lea said you’d remember that part, at least. But um, stuff happened and I got forgotten, so I ended up here. I’m just lucky I ran into Vanitas! Otherwise I never would’ve found Lea again or remembered stuff.”

“A _lot_ of stuff must have happened,” Ienzo noted. “Considering what little I know about the Replica project...well, in any case, I’m glad you found Lea, then, Xion, and it’s a pleasure to meet you properly.”

Xion smiled at him. “You too, Ze-- um, what’s your name-name, since you probably aren’t Zexion anymore?” She asked. “And...who’s he? He doesn’t look familiar.” She paused, embarrassed. “Sorry if that’s rude, or anything!”

“It’s not,” Terra reassured her. “His name’s Ienzo, and I’m Terra. I, uh-- I was technically kind of Xemnas, but also really, _really_ not.” He explained, hurrying to go into more detail at the look of startled fright on her face. “I was possessed. I-- if he hurt you, I’m sorry.”

Xion looked over at Lea and Vanitas (surprisingly) for reassurance, and Lea nodded. “He’s fine,” Vanitas said. “I can vouch for him. He’s cool.”

“Okay,” Xion said finally, mollified. “I guess there’s a lot of stuff I don’t know, huh?”

“Oh, yeah,” Lea said with a laugh. “But we can get into that later, when we’re all outta here. Right now we, uh...I kind of volunteered us to fight the Mad Doctor. That alright?”

Ienzo snorted. “Considering we did the same to Oswald himself? It’s fine. Let me take care of Terra’s injuries, and then we can do that.”

* * *

It didn’t take long to patch Terra up, and -- reluctantly -- he left Aqua with the animatronics, who promised to look after her while they were away. he hadn’t wanted to leave her alone, but he supposed he could trust Mickey’s friends, even if they were robotic versions of them, and...he knew if she were conscious she’d make him anyway. She wouldn’t want him to worry about her while he had something to do.

Well -- he was worrying anyway, but that was beside the point.

Oswald led the group to where the Mad Doctor’s lab was -- he called it Dark Beauty Castle, and Terra tried not to let his discomfort show at that, or the vague familiarity of the castle itself. Though he was probably just imagining it. He’d seen so many castles, it was probably pretty easy to think this one looked familiar. Even so…

“Is this supposed to be Disney Castle?” Lea asked Oswald, kicking a Blotling out of his way -- the area was infested with them, them and Heartless. Before there had been mostly Purebloods, Terra had noticed, but around here there were a few Emblems, too. Aeroplanes, Cymbal Monkeys, and Hot Rods, and others he didn’t recognize; ones that looked like a bunch of balloons, and Minute Bombs with little capes. Sometimes he wondered how the Heartless were smart enough to choose forms that fit the worlds they invaded -- or maybe it was that the worlds they invaded shaped the darkness into specific Heartless? That was something to suggest to Even later, he decided.

“Probably, yeah,” Oswald said. “Used to live here with Ortensia in the beginning, but it just got too much, so we moved house to the mountain.” He grimaced. “Didn’t like the Mad Doctor using it either, but it kept him out of trouble, so I let ‘im. Now I kinda regret that…”

“Well, hey,” Vanitas said. “Little late, but we’re evicting his ass now, right?”

Oswald snorted. “Yup,” he agreed. “With _real_ extreme prejudice.”

As they headed into the castle proper, the Heartless and Blotlings were joined by an increasingly large amount of Beetleworx, patchwork robotic monstrosities of all shapes and sizes. Terra had to admit that they were a bit more fun to fight than anything else so far -- he was used to fighting Heartless by now, they all were; the Beetleworx were new and unique, and a lot more of a challenge. Not enough of one to pose any real danger, but just enough to make it interesting.

Oswald led them into the castle and through winding corridors, fighting their way to the Mad Doctor’s lab. It was in a huge room, the ceiling broken open but the walls intact, including one wall halfway taken up by a large stained glass window. various huge and elaborate pieces of lab equipment were scattered about the place, reminding Terra a tiny bit of Vexen’s lab, albeit much less sterile and overly tidy.

The Mad Doctor himself was there, too, a tall, skinny, and bald ‘toon with an impressive mustache, and dressed in an old-fashioned lab coat and rubber gloves. He was tinkering with what looked like a massive pile of junk, but when the group entered, the pile lit up and reared back to reveal the giant Beetleworx from earlier, the one that had attacked them when they’d first arrived in Wasteland.

“We’ll handle this, Oswald!” Terra said. “You get to the Doctor.”

“You got it!” The rabbit said, taking a few steps back and leaping into the air, front-flipping over the Beetleworx and landing on its opposite side to charge at the doctor.

While Terra and the other four fought the Beetleworx -- and Terra was pretty impressed with Xion’s performance; he didn’t remember her, no, but she seemed fairly talented with both her Keyblade and magic -- Oswald seemed to chase the doctor around the laboratory. They were shouting at one another, too, arguing intensely about the doctor’s attempts to escape Wasteland.

“I shouldn’t be surprised you’re trying to stop me, Oswald!” The doctor shouted, ducking behind a pillar to avoid the rabbit’s magic. “You’ve always lived in the past -- the animatronics, the mountain, everything! You live in the past and you gave up on escaping far too easily! If we want our future back, we have to reach out and take it -- and by force, if necessary!”

Oswald bounced onto the railings of the balcony below the room’s window. “None of us here want a future that’s been earned by taking someone else’s!” He shouted, leaning off to the side to get a Thunder spell around the pillar. “We won’t be free if it means imprisoning someone else here!”

The Mad Doctor yelped, ducking, and snatched up some sort of remote from his ples of equipment. “So you’ll just sit around and goof off and never even bother trying?” He snapped back, darting up one of the stairways to the balcony.

“It’s not goofing off!” Oswald replied. “It’s keeping their minds off things, it’s giving them hope for tomorrow!” He shook his head, ducking the bolt of energy the Doctor shot from his device. “You’re right about one thing, though -- I _was_ living in the past! But not anymore! Our story’s been stuck on this page for way too long! It’s time for a new chapter!”

With that said, he ran at the doctor, hitting him square in the chest with his whole body and knocking the pair of them back into the window -- and _through_ the window. “Oswald!” Terra shouted, watching the two go over the edge with wide eyes. But there wasn’t much he could do at the moment; the giant Beetleworx was still trying to crush them. “Guys, let’s end this quickly!”

“Got it!” Vanitas said from across the room, and did a tuck and roll towards Xion, hopping to his feet to whisper something to her. The girl grinned widely, and (with a faint and vaguely distressed _‘oh no’_ from Lea) the two young Keybearers took off underneath the Beetleworx. The two cast in unison, Xion casting Magnega -- dragging the robot’s massive, spider-like limbs underneath it -- and Vanitas using Bind to hold them in place. Then the two cast Deep Freeze onto the limbs and bailing out from under it as it wobbled precariously. “Go, Terra!” Vanitas yelled as he ran past him, and Terra almost laughed.

“You made it too easy!” He called over his shoulder, charging in under the Beetleworx to smash the frozen limbs and send the robot toppling to the ground, pieces of it splintering and sparking.

“And stay down,” Lea told it firmly, whacking its head with his Keyblade before turning to the two younger members of the group. “Don’t you go corrupting her, buddy,” he told Vanitas with a grin.

“But Lea,” Xion countered. “Axel was a pretty bad influence, too.” She smiled at him winningly as he groaned and everyone else laughed. Terra shook his head, amused, but then ran up onto the balcony to check on Oswald -- part of him was half-sure the rabbit was alright, but he couldn’t help but worry anyway. He didn’t know how far down the drop was, and as much as he’d like to think everything was going to work out...he was pretty much a natural worrier.

“Oswald?!” He shouted down, only to yelp and stumble back as the rabbit himself hovered into view. His ears were spinning like a propeller, and he had the unconscious Doctor dangling from his hands. The two were a little scuffed and battered, but otherwise mostly unharmed.

“You rang?” He asked, smiling, and dropped the Doctor onto the floor before landing and rubbing his head. “Ugh, that always gives me a headache. But I’m alright, don’t worry. Takes more than that to take out a toon like me!”

Terra snorted, shoulders relaxing in relief. “Good to know,” he said. “I’ll have to remember that next time you jump out a window.”

* * *

The group headed to the basement after that, where Oswald said the old cellblock was, Terra carrying the Mad Doctor slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. It was kind of funny to see, but also a reminder of how strong the former Superior was, and that was...a tiny bit unnerving, Lea thought. If he really wanted to hit you, he’d probably be able to break someone in half. Which meant that it was a really, really good thing he was such a nice guy. The only person he’d really break was likely Xehanort, and he’d deserve it.

Once down there, Oswald ran ahead, shouting for Ortensia, and about halfway down the hall -- an old fashioned dungeon, all stone and metal bars, but it made Lea deeply uncomfortable anyway, and Ienzo flashed him a sympathetic look -- someone began shouting back. Terra picked a random cell to throw the Doctor into, locking it tight and leaving it, before they all followed the rabbit as he bolted off. By the time they got there, he’d...he’d tugged one of his ears off, which was surreal but somehow made sense, and stuck it into the lock on the one cell, wiggling the padlock open and yanking the door aside to let the ‘toon cat throw herself on him with a cry.

“Oswald!” She said, burying her face in his chest. “Oh, Oswald! You came! You did it!” She beamed at him, and then up at the others. “You brought friends, too!”

Oswald grinned. “Yep,” he said brightly. “Keybearers. Friends of Mick’s that found their way in here. Talked me ‘round, and so here I am!” His grin faded, and he leaned in to rest his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get myself together and get my butt in gear,” he told her softly. “But I’m here, darlin’. I missed you.”

“I missed you too, honeybunny,” she said fondly, and then smiled up at the others. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, ma’am,” Terra said with a smile in return. “Now, uh...do you think we can find a way to fix the Wasteland? It’s what you’ve been looking for, and the Doctor, too, and if Xehanort was able to try to convince him there was something, there must be-- and something better, too, something that isn’t gonna hurt anyone.”

The two toons looked at each other, and Oswald shook his head, but Ortensia held up a hand. “Wait,” she said, thoughtfully. “Did we ever...down in the basement, where the cornerstone room’s supposed to be. We locked that up and never went back, but that’s where this all happened and the worlds were pulled apart. Do you think if we looked there, there might be answers? We never tried that before.”

“We didn’t wanna torment ourselves like that,” Oswald said slowly. “So we locked that room down and thought that was the end of it. Didn’t think there was anything there but bad memories, but...maybe in this one case, looking at the past is what’s gonna let us move forward.”

They all headed back upstairs, Oswald leading them at a bounce towards the throne room. The big doors looked daunting, but Xion and Vanitas didn’t bother to stifle laughter when Oswald pushed on them...and a smaller door opened, just the right size for the rest of them despite the _actual_ doors being taller than a Darkside Heartless. Lea laughed, too, at that -- it was a miracle, still, that Xion was back with him, and-- and their innocence, these two, it reminded him of the good parts about being Axel, the moments where he’d almost been happy. Just the three of them….three? Oh. Oh, boy, he thought, stomach sinking. Isa. He’d known they’d have to deal with it when Xion got back, but she was back, and now they were gonna...they were gonna have to. Not that he thought it wasn’t gonna work itself out, but it wasn’t gonna be pleasant for either party. But it was gonna work out -- because they were both his friends.

The toons led them down to the throne on the other end of the room, and pushed a button on the underside of one of the armrests. It made a clicking sound, and then the throne slid to the side, revealing stairs leading down. A glowing barrier was on top of the doorway, though, and with a nod at each other Oswald and Ortensia held their hands out. Their hands glowed, and the barrier shattered. “Down we go?” Oswald said nervously, and his wife took his hand and squeezed it.

“Down we go,” Terra said, and headed down the steps.

The steps led down into a large room, dark stone and pillars, just as haphazard, crumbling and half-melty like dripping ink as the rest of the castle and the world. In the center, though, was a pedestal, and on that pedestal was a chunk of stone, dark and ominous, emitting a bright purple glow that lit the whole room. “A...dark cornerstone?” Ienzo asked, surprised. “Well...that’s actually less unexpected than I thought. The splitting of this piece of Disney Town from the rest must have duplicated it just like it duplicated Disney Castle.” He looked thoughtful, stepping forward. “Oswald, come here. What did the pot you broke look like, the one that sealed the Phantom Blot?”

“Uh, what did it look like?” Oswald asked, moving over to where Ienzo was and leaning in, before leaning back with a surprised yelp. “Whoah! Yeah, that cornerstone looks like it’s made outta the fragments of the pot!”

Ienzo smiled. “Thought so. Terra, I think this is the key, so to speak -- the Phantom Blot pulled this bit of the world from the rest of it, and this is what’s left of that spell. So if we break this dark cornerstone...”

“The spell should break,” Terra finished, summoning his Keyblade. “You guys, with me.” Lea grinned, approaching with the others as they all summoned their Keyblades as well. Xion hesitated a moment, a little awkward, before Lea patted her shoulder and gave her a reassuring nod. She nodded back and called hers, joining them as they all pointed their blades at the cornerstone and its protective shield. Four beams of light burst from the tips, hitting the shield and after a moment, causing cracks. The cracks multiplied and spread, and then the shield shattered, the lights hitting the stone itself. The stone throbbed and pulsed brightly, cracks forming in it, too, and then exploded apart, filling the room with light.

* * *

When the light faded and the group all dropped their arms, the first thing they noticed was sunlight. Bright sunlight, flooding the streets -- and it was a street, now, they weren’t in the castle anymore. They were in the first place they’d arrived in, the main street that ended in a cul-de-sac, and people were pouring out of the buildings, staring about them in shock. The streets were unbroken, the buildings bright and colorful and pristine, and the fountain bubbling happily. The sun was shining above them, and everyone was running to Oswald and the others, shouting in amazement.

“Holy hell, we did it,” Lea said, amazed, looking around them. “This is Disney Town, yeah? We really brought the Wasteland back.”

“Looks like it,” Vanitas said. “Why so surprised, though -- it’s kind of our thing now, isn’t it? Saving people and all that?” He looked embarrassed as he said it, rubbing the back of his neck. “No one’s forgotten anymore. Call that a win.”

“Definitely a win,” Terra said, watching the rest of the town run in from nearer to the castle -- he recognized some of them, saw Clarabelle and Horace and other faces from when he’d been here all those years ago. It was...ten years ago, but it felt like nothing had changed. Maybe that was just how Disney Town was, in some ways frozen in time. Still the same colorful buildings and bright white-and-blue castle, still the same toon residents, horses and chickens and cows and birds, still…so much the same as it was. But time had passed for them, too, while it hadn’t for Wasteland. And now...time could move again.

Time could move again for Aqua, too, he thought, remembering she was with the animatronics and looking frantically around for them. They’d moved off to the side, Donald marvelling at their new state of repair and how nice they looked again while Goofy still held his unconscious friend. He gently took her from the robotic dog with a nod and a smile, and moved back to the others just as Queen Minnie and the real Daisy ran up to them. He stifled a snort as Oswald immediately dived for Terra’s legs, face red with nervous embarrassment, and smiled at the two ladies, who smiled back.

“Terra, it’s good to see you again,” Minnie said warmly. “Mickey told me you were back. I’m glad you’re alri-- oh! Is that Aqua, too?”

“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “It’s her. It’s good to see you too, Your Majesty. It’s been a while.” He smiled slightly and stepped to the side. “Not just for us.”

Minnie brightened upon seeing Oswald, whose ears had gone limp and who looked about to bolt, and reached her hands out. “Oswald,” she said warmly, and he stiffened. “Welcome home. You and Ortensia both. We’re sorry about what happened, and that we didn’t know to come find you, but now that you’re here...we missed you. We’re glad you’re back.”

Oswald swallowed thickly, smiling, and took Minnie’s hands. “I missed you guys, too,” he said. “We all did. We’re...we’re real glad to be home.” He glanced back at those who’d been trapped in Wasteland, hugging long-missed friends and family, and at the blue baby rabbits, dotted here and there and everywhere, marveling at the sun and the fountain and giggling madly. “We’re all home now,” he repeated. “And I’m...I’m sorry about all that.”

“It’s in the past,” Daisy put in, arm still around Ortensia where it had found itself as the two girls had caught up. “You’re home now, that’s all that matters!”

Oswald grinned, rubbing his eyes furiously, and Terra smiled at the sight. He glanced down at Aqua, then -- she was home, too -- and then back up at everyone. “Hey,” he said. “I’d love to stay a little longer, but we, uh...we gotta get going.”

“Oh!” Minnie said in surprise. “Oh, of course, you all head out, okay? You can come visit anytime, Terra, you and everyone else.”

“We will,” Terra promised. “I owe some people some ice cream.” That got a laugh out of Vanitas, and a grin exchanged between Xion and Lea. Lea paused, then, clearing his throat.

“‘Uh,” he said. “Hey, just a note, but the Mad Doctor’s probably locked up in your basement somewhere. Just letting you know, so you can, uh, do whatever.” Daisy nodded, giving him a thumbs up, and Lea returned the gesture.

The group all exchanged goodbyes, and Ienzo opened a corridor for everyone to leave. Xion grabbed Lea’s hand as they left, and he gave hers a squeeze. A lot of people had come home today, hadn’t they? Everyone in Wasteland, Aqua, and...and Xion. Behind them, they heard Minnie telling Oswald she’d call Mickey, if he wasn’t already on his way, and then the corridor closed and they were on their way back to the hotel.

Back home, Lea supposed. Or...well, it was home. Home was people just as much as it was a place, and though the Organization had never been a home, not once in ten years...now? Now it was starting to feel like one. Especially now that some of their own missing pieces had come back to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY YOU GUYS I'M NOT DEAD HELLO DID YOU MISS ME?
> 
> With E3 coming up, and a release date for KH3 soon to be announced...my brain finally got back in gear. I'm so sorry that it took me SO LONG to update -- almost a year, holy shit! -- but fall semester started as soon as I got back from the whole Irma thing and then spring semester and it was...it was pretty chaos, life was a lot, and then I got hella sidetracked by FFXV (as you might have noticed if you check my recent fic posts), but...
> 
> I never intended to abandon this and I never will -- this will get finished. I promise. And here's me keeping it; with any luck, I will finish this before KH3 comes out! Given that this is the end of the Wasteland arc, and starting next chapter we head into the second-to-last arc? I think I will! We got this, guys, we're in the home stretch.
> 
> And as a bonus, here's a picture I drew back in September of [AST Oswald and Ortensia](https://78.media.tumblr.com/58cfc189a749fb7c036ea55071bde56a/tumblr_ovzb3dg2uY1rjqywoo1_1280.png)! Look at him and his adorable cutlass.
> 
> Working on the fic again, promise, and I will see you when we start the next arc!


	42. Friends New and Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone gets home, and after the initial reintroductions and explanations...well. Lea has a gap to bridge between best friends old and new, one dotted with trauma and shaped by cruelty, and he hopes it goes better than he fears. He loves them both, after all, and all he wants is all his friends.
> 
> And then it's time for a new trip and a new world...and a new ally?

It was only when the group got back to the hotel that they realized that they were going to have to deal with some small chaos of their own. Not to the level of the returned part of Disney Town, but still. Xion was back, and if that meant she was remembered by the rest of the old Organization...well, there was going to be a lot of explaining to do. For Xion, too-- there was a lot she’d missed.

Their suspicions were proven correct when they entered the lobby to find everyone else already there, hovering about in wait-- Danny was the first one to speak, nearly bounding up to them with wide eyes. “What the heck happened?!” He demanded. “Why did we forget Xion, I don’t know how that happened, I totally remember hanging out with her in the Grey Room and all that, and, like, how did-- Xion!” He noticed her, then, and lit up, grinning wide and holding out his arms. “Holy shit! I have no idea what’s going on, but hi!”

“Hi, Dem-- um, whatever your name is now!” She said brightly in response, gladly giving him a hug. “And hi to everyone else, too! I missed you guys-- well, um, mostly, I guess, I didn’t really talk to you all much, but still!”

Danny laughed. “You can call me Danny,” he said. “And you didn’t, yeah, but that’s cool. You were still one of us. Welcome back!”

The smile on her face was enough to light the lobby twice as bright when she stepped back, and Lea felt his heart melt a little at it. “Thank you,” she said, looking torn between getting teary-eyed and bouncing all over the place. “I-- I like you all a lot better with your hearts back, I think? This is a lot nicer than the Organization, even if I’ve only been here for, like, five minutes.”

“It is, at that,” Even agreed, approaching them and -- to Lea’s amusement and understanding -- looking a little emotional himself. “With our hearts, and without Xemnas, this is...a lot better of a place, I think. For all of us. We may still call ourselves the Organization, for lack of anything better, but this is a far different one than the one you knew.” He managed a small smile, albeit an incredibly awkward one. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Xion. I’m Even.”

“Even…?” Xion began, and then brightened. “Oh! _Vexen!_ You made me!” She grinned and hugged him, eliciting a startled and slightly strangled squeak of surprise from the scientist as he returned the hug, looking up at him. “I mean, I knew that, I read all your notes and stuff! It’s really nice to get to meet you, too, I always wanted to!” Even shot a pointed look at Lea above her head at that, and Lea tried not to look too awkward. Well, that was something that was _not_ going to come up.

“Made...alright, would someone explain what’s going on here?” Lauriam asked, lifting a hand. “Granted, I do remember her turning up, but then we all _died_ , you know, so at least five of us have no clue what’s happening right now. No offense.”

Xion laughed. “It’s okay,” she said. “Lea, do you wanna help me explain?”

“Sure,” he told her, leaning his arm on her head -- causing her to pout and swat him but let him anyway. “Xion’s a Replica, technically. Xemnas had her made to copy over Sora’s memories, as kind of a back-up Roxas. She’s...well, she’s _she_ ‘cause she kind of got Sora’s memories of Kairi most of all, right?” Xion nodded, picking up the the thread.

“Yep,” she said. “I guess I looked different at first to some people? Because Lea said I looked like Namine to him, at first, and I know Riku saw Kairi at first, too, and Xigbar at least saw someone _completely_ different--”

“Ven, probably,” Terra put in, amused. “He probably saw Ven. I’ll explain that in a bit, though, Xion, don’t worry.”

Xion nodded. “Okay,” she said reasonably. “Anyway, the problem kind of was that this was when Namine was putting Sora’s memories back together, but _I_ had them, so she couldn’t finish. And then I started kind of…” She trailed off, twisting her hands together. “Breaking, a little, because I wasn’t supposed to be my own person, but I was, and it was kind of a lot -- especially because, y’know, Sora is Sora and Roxas was my best friend and around me all the time -- so...I started kind of absorbing _all_ Sora’s Sora-ness, and hurting Roxas, and--” Her voice cracked, and Lea ruffled her hair.

“And stuff happened,” he continued. “The short version of that part, though, is that she went to Namine after meeting Riku and figuring out what was going on, and Namine told her she’d be able to go back to Sora and stop hurting Roxas, and help Sora wake up -- also help stop Xemnas from being a giant bag of--” He coughed. “ _A big jerk_ , but the problem was, that since Xion was made of Sora’s memories, even if she was her own person now, going back to him would make her disappear from _our_ memories. She did it anyway, though, even though I was a big asshole and tried to stop her, and…then we all forgot.” He paused to hug her tightly. “But that’s that, and now she’s back, ‘cause we rescued her from where forgotten things went, and I guess she really is her own person now.” And it was going to stay that way, if he had anything to say about it.

Xion returned the hug. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m back! And, uh...I guess I helped some? I mean, I hope I did.”

“You did,” Terra reassured her. “Trust me. Because of you and Roxas, Sora was able to wake up, and Sora waking up stopped Xemnas and destroyed the fake Kingdom Hearts he was trying to make, and, uh, in a really roundabout way, managed to get everyone their hearts back.”

That, at least, made Xion smile. “Oh, good,” she said. “But, um...what do you mean, fake?”

“Oh, boy,” Vanitas said with a roll of his eyes. “We should, like, record the whole explanation on a tape or something and just play that whenever someone needs it, so we don’t have to keep saying it over and over.” He laughed. “I mean, no offense, Xion, but this is like the fourth time we’ve had to tell the story, I think.”

“None taken!” Xion said with a laugh of her own. “It’s gotta be tough having to say the same thing over and over. I know Lea and Roxas probably got sick of it the first week or two me and him were in the Organization, all zombie-like and stuff.”

Lea groaned. “Oh, you have no _idea_ ,” he said, ruffling her hair. “I had to tell you how to open boxes like, _six times_.”

“Well,” Xion said, mischief in her eyes. “I mean...we _did_ eventually ‘get it memorized’, though, right, _Axel?_ ”

Lea made a horrified face while the rest of the others cracked up, and then he put a hand to his chest and laughed as well. “Oh my god, I’m so proud of you.” God, he‘d missed her so much-- he’d missed all his friends, and slowly, slowly, he was getting them all back.

* * *

A little later, after Terra and Lea explained everything to her -- they’d given the others a brief report on what had happened in Wasteland, chasing them off back to whatever they’d been doing and handing off Aqua to Even so that he could take care of her -- the three of them were sitting around the lobby, Xion curled in one of the big plush chairs and Lea draped lazily on the couch Terra leaned against. “So,” Xion began. “Ven’s Vanitas’s missing piece, and Xehanort has him? And it’s Xehanort that hurt you, and basically caused all the bad stuff that happened to Sora, Riku, Kairi, and all the rest of you guys?”

“Basically,” Terra said with a shake of his head and an amused smile. “That’s about the gist of it. If you want, I could take you to Sora and them? They’d probably welcome you, really, and you could, uh…” He shrugged. “I mean, I know we’re different now, but I know the Organization wasn’t kind to you, and I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

Xion laughed. “No, it’s okay, I want to stay here,” he told him. “I mean, you said I was one of you guys, right? And I am -- no matter what, I’m Number Fourteen, and I like that. And I promised Vanitas I’d help him get his missing piece back, anyway.” She paused, grinning at Lea. “And someone has to babysit Lea, right?”

Lea made an indignant noise, but grinned at her and shook his head. “Well, I’m glad you’re sticking around, Xion,” he said. “I missed you enough as it is.”

“If you’re sure,” Terra said, only to be met with a firm nod. “Then alright, welcome aboard, Xion. We’re glad to have the help, and I’m really sure Lea’s glad to just have you around, period.” He smiled. “And Vanitas needs more friends, anyway.” That said, he got up and headed back upstairs, pausing to ruffle Xion’s hair on the way.

The two left behind were quiet for a moment, just enjoying each other’s presence, when Lea sat up slightly. Was that-- it was. Well, that was good. That meant he wasn’t going to have to hunt him down later. Better to get this over with now. “Hey, Xion?” He said, making sure his voice carried slightly. “There’s, um, something I think I should tell you.”

“Huh?” Xion blinked, but then nodded. “Okay. What’s up, Lea?”

“You remember that one day when you asked me about if I ever had a best friend?” He asked, and she nodded. “I kind of lied to you. I mean, I did that a lot as Axel, and I mean _a lot_ , but this time’s the one I’m talking about. I...did have a best friend before you guys, and he’s still basically my best friend now. I only said that then because, um…” He shrugged awkwardly. “Being Nobodies made things weird, and Xehanort kind of body-jacked him for a while.”

“Oh,” Xion said, making a face. “That sucks. But you said for a while, so-- you two are okay now? That’s great!” She paused, though, trailing off. “So he was in the Organization, too? Then who was…”

She seemed to come to the realization rather quickly, eyes widening considerably and a hand covering her mouth. “Oh _,_ ” she managed. “Oh! _Oh_. That-- that explains a lot, I... _oh_.”

“Yeah,” Lea said, still looking at Isa where he was hovering in one of the doorframes, looking mildly terrified. “Saix. Or, uh-- Isa. His name’s Isa, and we...we grew up together, he and I. He’s my first best friend, and I missed him a lot, as much as I missed you guys. Care about you all just as much.” He fidgeted. “I know that...I know he was a jerk to you, though, so I…”

Xion nodded slowly, still looking a bit upset herself. “I...yeah, he was,” she said, her voice small. “But that was Saix. Is...Is Isa different?”

“Ask him yourself, if you want,” Lea said, smiling very faintly. “Isa, get over here, neither of you are going to explode and you need to talk. I _want_ you to talk.”

Xion squeaked a little, stiffening, but held herself still and watched as Isa slowly approached, leaning just as stiffly against the arm of the couch Lea was on. They both stared at each other a long moment, just as awkward and uncomfortable, until Xion spoke first. “....hi,” she said nervously. “You’re...Isa? I like that name. It’s...easier to say.”

“...it is,” Isa agreed quietly. “And easier to spell, too. I have too many Xs already.” That got a tiny laugh out of Xion, though it was nervous, and they both fell silent again.

“...If you guys want some time before you talk,” Lea ventured finally. “Or-- or you want me to leave, or don’t want me to leave, or want...I dunno, if this is a lot let me know.”

“I think I’m gonna be okay,” Xion said quietly, voice a tiny bit shaky but expression firm. “I...he’s not scary anymore. Not in the way Saix was. Saix...Saix made me really nervous, like being next to a giant sleeping Heartless and knowing if you make a noise it’ll wake up and attack you. But...but you’re not like that anymore.” She managed a smile. “So I’m okay.”

Isa swallowed. “Xion,” he began finally, and that made her smile again, less shaky, but with a sparkle of tears in her eyes. “I’m-- what I did to you, everything I said, I-- there’s...I can’t excuse it by saying I was possessed, or that I-- that it was because I had no heart. It was...it was uncalled for, and cruel, and I should never have…” He shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Xion,” he managed. “I’m...you don’t have to forgive me. I won’t blame you if you don’t. I just...want you to know that I’m sorry.”

Xion was quiet for a long moment, and then she nodded. “That’s enough for me,” she said finally. “That you’re sorry. And...that you call me _Xion_. No more ‘it’, no more number. _Xion._ Are-- are you gonna do that?” Isa nodded, murmuring assent, and she smiled. “Then that’s settled. We’re okay. I don’t wanna say I _forgive_ you, because that’s...that’s really complicated, I think, and I’m not sure, but we’re okay.” She held out her hand. “Besides. We’re...we’re both Lea’s friends, and if _Lea_ is friends with you, then...I trust him. So we can be friends, too.” She smiled at him. “And maybe then I’ll figure out if I can forgive you properly, right? I can’t do that if I don’t get to know you.”

Isa blinked, and then managed a quiet smile of his own, taking her hand. “I’d like that, I think,” he said. “To get to know you. I never tried, before. And...I see you now, Xion, and you’re right -- we are both Lea’s friends, and I know him well enough to know that...he’d like it if we were friends, too. I’m willing to wait as long as you need to forgive me, if you ever do. That’s alright. But...in the meantime, I would like to be friends with you.” A pause, and mischief lit in his eyes. “After all, the more people babysitting him, the better, I’d say.”

 _“Hey!”_ Lea yelped, indignant, and the other two burst into laughter, Xion covering her mouth and looking thoroughly amused and much more relaxed.

“That’s true!” She said. “Two’s better than one, keeping him out of trouble! And I bet you have lots of practice with that, if you knew each other for that long.”

Isa laughed, beginning to relax himself. “Oh, you have _no idea_ ,” he said fondly. “The stunts he used to pull…” He shook his head.

“Hey,” Lea said. “I’m _right here_. I can’t _believe_ you guys are bonding over making fun of me!” He pouted dramatically. “See if I treat you two to ice cream.”

Xion lit up. “Ice cream?” She asked. “Sea-salt? Oh, can we, Lea, I haven’t had any in ages! I missed it so much!”

“Of course we can,” Lea said, offering her a hand up from the chair and smiling at Isa. “C’mon. I know just the place. We can all go.”

It might not be the same as back then, all those days sitting in the sunset after missions, might not be the same three of them, but it was...they were friends, or would be. They were all Lea’s friends, sitting and eating ice cream together. Laughing, joking -- at Lea’s expense, but if it got Xion and Isa to get along and slowly ease the tension between them, he’d let himself be dragged as much as they liked -- and smiling between bites of sea-salt ice cream. One day, Lea hoped, he’d be able to share it with all of them. Sora would be nice, but Roxas would be better, and...if he let himself hope, let himself dream, that day would come where it would be all his friends here. Eating ice cream like this, joking and smiling, and most importantly _together_.

One day, maybe. He sure as hell hoped so.

* * *

The next two days passed without much incident, Lea dragging Vanitas into their impromptu friendship trio -- well, quartet -- and hanging around as Xion and Isa slowly got more used to each other’s company, and Xion relearned the Organization members’ names, got to know them all over again as real people. Aqua was still unconscious, still resting, but Even -- in has much capacity as he could, not being technically a medical doctor -- had promised she was alright, and would wake up in time.

It was all they could do but wait, really, but as always it wasn’t...it wasn’t a _bad_ sort of waiting, Terra thought. They were all a lot more comfortable with each other than in the old Organization, a lot less stiff and awkward and antisocial and...well, it was more like a weird family than a weird cult. And weird families were, well, a lot better.

It was on the tail end of that thought that Even and Ienzo called everyone down, a bright, pale blue blip on the screen flashing in a corner of the map when they got there. “Blue?” Relena asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s not the normal color, is it? It’s usually bright red, the universal Oh Shit symbol.”

“Well, the magic signal they got from Storybrooke wasn’t red,” Dilan pointed out, but then paused. “It was white,” he said thoughtfully. “And the one from Daybreak Town wasn’t blue, either. What sort of signal is that, Even?”

Even and Ienzo exchanged looks. “A Keybearer,” Even said at length. “And before you ask, no, it’s not Xehanort or any of his associates -- it would pick up as Darkness, first. So this is...not one of them. And as we established, Sora and his friends remain at Yen Sid’s tower.”

“And Aqua’s here,” Terra said slowly. “So...this is someone entirely new.” That was a thought that made them all silent for a moment, wondering -- a new Keybearer? How could that be? -- before Terra stood. “Alright,” he said. “I mean-- we have to check it out, then. If it’s a Keybearer, we need to get to them and tell ‘em what’s going on, especially before Xehanort’s people do. We need all the help we can get, after all.”

“I’ll go, too,” Ienzo offered. “I can’t say I’m not incredibly curious, after all. Aeleus, do you want to come? You’ve been stuck here the past few weeks, and I can tell even you’re getting bored.”

The man chuckled, shaking his head. “I can’t lie -- it is getting a bit boring keeping an eye on things here. I think I can leave Dilan to that alone just this once, though.” He stood. “Do you mind?”

“Of course not,” Dilan said with a snort. “Go and get it out of your system, we can manage without you for a day or two.” The two guards exchanged nods, and Aeleus straightened from his spot against the all.

“Vanitas,” Terra asked, stopping him in his tracks. “Can you stay? I...I’d like you to look after Aqua.” He knew Vanitas would, and...maybe it was a little selfish, but it was in part because he knew Vanitas was partially Ven, and...that was lot to do with it. He hoped if she woke up while he was gone, she wouldn’t freak out, but it was a chance they’d all have to take eventually.

Vanitas looked shocked, as if he hadn’t expected to be asked, and then nodded. “I-- yeah, sure,” he said. “I’ll keep an eye on her, no problem.” He shifted, crossing his arms. “But then who’s gonna tag along, or are we gonna have to start playing rock-paper-scissors for i--”

“I’m going,” Lauriam said, without much preamble. He was already standing, and there was a strange expression on his face. Terra was almost worried for a moment, knowing the pink-haired man’s fascination with Keyblades, but this seemed...different. He almost seemed-- hopeful? Some kind of mixture of that and trepidation. It was strange, honestly, but...Terra nodded. “Okay, thanks, Lauriam,” he said, deciding not to draw attention to it. At least, not now, anyway.

“What’s the world called?” Terra asked as he opened the corridor, the others forming up behind him. It was weird, he could feel the tension in Lauriam from here-- there was a story, there, and one he wasn’t sure how to ask about. But later, maybe, if he did. Somewhere more private.

Even glanced at his screens. “Ah-- The Colony, apparently,” he told them. “Not sure what that means, but...do be careful, I suppose.”

“We will,” Terra promised, avoiding glancing at Lauriam. “See you guys later.”

That said, the four of them headed into the corridor, and made their way to the Colony, and towards their mysterious Keybearer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOD, I AM SO READY FOR THIS ARC. Also yay, more chapters at a decent pace! Yay!
> 
> Anyway, it was interesting to work on the conversation between Isa and Xion, because on the one hand I didn't want to make light of what Saix did to her or make Xion warm to him too easily, but on the other hand, I didn't want to make Isa unsympathetic or drag out Unnecessary Drama -- in the end, though, I'm happy with this. I think it did okay!
> 
> Now, who is this other Keybearer, and why is Lauriam so twitchy? Well, it's safe to say he wasn't gonna be this twitchy in the initial outline, but then KHUx came into my house and punched my original Marluxia headcanons in the face, so here he is, and I'm honestly really, really glad for it, because it makes this arc that much more fun. ~~listen if you think about it you'll know who our new friend is i dare you to guess :D~~
> 
> (As for the world...The Colony has always been in AST, ever since the terribad first version, and this encounter has also always been in AST in The Colony, ever since the terribad first version, and you have no idea how long I've been waiting for this bit.)
> 
> As an aside, I would like to dedicate Aeleus's presence in this arc to veteran KH fanfic writer (who has long left the fandom, much to my heartbreak as she had a pirate AU I would die for) ts_soliloquy [[archive here](https://ts-soliloquy.livejournal.com/63630.html)], whose fic Beating Drum Heart shaped a lot of my own headcanons for him.


	43. Outsiders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group arrives at The Colony, and meets both sets of people who live there -- still strangers to each other, in many ways, and with a tenuous, hesitant peace, but a peace all the same. Though that peace is threatened by the Darkenss, and that's why they're here to help...as is their mysterious Keybearer.
> 
> _'Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine. (Under the shelter of each other, people survive.)'_

The world they arrived in didn’t seem to be inhabited, at first -- they arrived in a lush forest, not quite like Sherwood -- sparser, slightly, and with different kinds of trees -- and all was silent save for the distant rush of a river. It was quiet and relatively peaceful, the occasional noise of birds or other wild animals letting them know nothing was too wrong. However, there was a slightly oppressive scent of darkness in the air, nothing major but enough for Ienzo to let the others know there was definitely a Heartless presence.

“Well, obviously,” Lauriam said, crossing his arms tight to his chest. “Why would a Keybearer be on a world with no Heartless?”

Ienzo turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, but said nothing -- he seemed close enough to the tipping point anyway, so he had a feeling the answers would come out on their own in due time. He’d been acting strangely since Daybreak Town; ever since then, he’d been closed off and jumpy, as if there was something going on he didn’t want to bring up, something close to his chest and definitely important. It wasn’t something the others noticed, really, or if they did decided it wasn’t worth bothering him about -- Marluxia had enough of a reputation to make the others a bit wary of pushing Lauriam’s buttons, and even Relena had let it go for the moment, though he knew the two were still spending most of their time with each other.

But now? Now, given the context given by this trip, Ienzo was beginning to put a picture together. And if he was right, there needed to be a _lot_ of explaining. But...he’d give it a little more time.

The group headed further through forest, following Ienzo’s nose and the aura of darkness but then in a clearing they all stopped. “Ienzo?” Terra asked. “What’s--?”

“Shh,” Aeleus gestured briefly, everyone following the guard’s lead and falling silent, hands shifting to call for weapons if necessary. “No one move. There are eyes on us.”

Everyone was silent, and Terra reached out to put a hand on Lauriam’s arm -- he had gone very still, and Terra was worried that as wound tight as he was at the moment, he’d do something they’d all regret.

They didn’t have long to wait for the source of the presence Ienzo and Aeleus had sensed -- figures melted from the forest around them, at least a dozen men in leathers, some bare chested and some with tattoos, all with black hair and strong features, and all holding bows pointed directly at them. “Oh, shit,” Terra whispered under his breath, before slowly raising his hands up in surrender. The others followed suit, Lauriam hesitating a moment and still looking on edge. “We...we aren’t here to harm anyone,” he said louder, not sure which of the men was the leader but hoping whoever it was would listen. “We promise.”

There was a look exchanged between the warriors, and then one of them nodded. “Come with us,” he ordered, and the men all broke rank to surround them as the one in the lead took them off the path and further into the forest. The trees broke eventually, and they found themselves in a village. The buildings were all made of what looked like reeds and rope and thick logs, a fire pit in the center, and the people there all looked similar to the warriors, copper-skinned and with black hair and strong features, and they all seemed busy, some weaving baskets, some cooking...it seemed peaceful, and happy, and it was hard to believe there was any trouble or darkness in this world.

The villagers all stopped to watch as the warriors broke off, leaving two of them to head to the largest of the buildings. The leader slipped through the cloth hanging in the door frame, saying something in another language to whoever was inside. A conversation was held in quick words, and then the leader moved away to nod at Terra and the others. “In,” he said tersely. “The chief wants to talk to you.”

Terra nodded and slipped into the building, the others following -- Aeleus having to bend to enter -- and standing a little nervously at attention. The chief in question...well, it was obvious he was the head of the village they were in, an older man (about Master Eraqus’s age) with feathers tied into his hair. Beside him was an even older man, his white hair loose and long, who was leaning on a walking stick and looking curious.

“You are no outsiders that we have seen before,” the chief said finally. “You say you come in peace, but know that others before you have said such a thing and lied. Who are you, and what is your purpose here, strangers?”

Terra and the others exchanged glances, Aeleus keeping a hand on Lauriam’s arm, before Terra stepped forward and bowed slightly. “My name is Terra, sir,” he began carefully. “My companions and I are...travellers, from afar. I am something known as a Keybearer, and we came to your world as part of our journey to protect people from the Darkness.” He paused to consider his next words, hoping that at least the older man would know of what he spoke -- he gave off a similar vibe to Mama Odie from the bayou, that aura of age and slight magic -- and was relieved to see the two older men look relieved as well, nodding in understanding.

“We have heard of your order,” the older of the two said. “Those that combat the darkness and evil spirits, far beyond our shores and beyond. You are welcome here, Keybearer.”

Terra smiled in relief. “Thank you, sir,” he said, bowing again. “We mean no harm, and didn’t mean to cause any worry or concern. We just want to help. There is some kind of darkness that lingers here, and if there’s anything...”

“Darkness?” The chief said, and then sighed. “Yes, that would make sense,” he murmured to himself. “Not long ago, only a season, outsiders from across the water came, and their leader, Ratcliffe, carried a great darkness in him. He was prevented from destroying our people, but the darkness that he brought with him may still linger in the air.”

Terra grimaced slightly. Though it sounded like the worst was over, that the darkness still lingered wasn’t...this Ratcliffe guy must have been pretty awful. “If you want, we could take care of it for you,” he offered. “It’s what we’re here for, and anything we can do to keep this place safe…”

“Thank you,” the chief said, inclining his head slightly. “My daughter, Pocahontas--” he paused, looking amused. “--who is listening to our conversation, I’d imagine, can take you to the white man’s settlement. They will be able to tell you more of the darkness -- she tells me they have lost men to it.” He sounded...not dismissive, really, but like he didn’t think that much of these ‘white men’ -- which, honestly, Terra figured, made sense. If they’d turned up and their leader had tried to kill them all, that wouldn’t exactly make anyone friendly towards them, even if they were living side by side.

They turned, though, as the curtain at the door rustled and a young woman leaned in, looking mildly embarrassed -- Pocahontas, probably, who _had_ been listening in. “Hello,” she said with a lift of a hand and a smile. “It’s good to meet you.”

* * *

The chief of the village waved them off with Pocahontas after that, clearly finished with the conversation -- and Terra, for one, wasn’t about to really argue with that -- and the young woman led them through the forest towards where the ‘white man’s settlement’ was, though she didn’t seem near as dismissive of it as her father; in fact, she seemed rather wistful. Upon prompting, she explained that one of the men who had come with Ratcliffe had been a man named John Smith, and the two of them had fallen in love -- it was that that had ended up saving her people. But he had been wounded in the final battle, and taken back to where they’d come from for treatment. In the meantime, though, the other settlers had begun to get along much better with Pocahontas’s people -- though still a bit wary of the other, it was at least a relationship where they did no harm to one another and tried to leave each other well enough alone.

In fact, Pocahontas was really the only one who had regular contact with them, as she had made friends with a few of them, and they all knew her. “That explains why your father asked you to take us to them,” Ienzo noted.

“Yes,” she agreed. “Father and the rest of my people don’t like them much even now, and I understand -- so long as no one harms each other, I cannot change minds more than I already have.” She shrugged slightly. “As there is peace, I think it is enough. I would like for them to understand our ways better, but we are so different…”

“Sometimes you just have to leave it at that, I think,” Lauriam said quietly. “Sometimes people just won’t understand each other, and a peaceful agreement to accept that is the best you get.”

Pocahontas nodded. “I know,” she said. “And I know that we are lucky -- it is because they have known us, and known John and what Ratcliffe did, that we have this peace. If more white men come, they will not be the same.” It was a sobering thought, but the somber silence was interrupted by an animal’s irritated shriek and some barking, and a raccoon burst through the brush to leap onto Pocahontas’s leg and scramble up to her shoulders, holding tight to a piece of fruit and chittering at the small, scruffy pug that came barrelling out after him.

“Meeko, Percy!” Pocahontas said, amused, prying the raccoon off her shoulder. “Are you two fighting again? _Really?”_ She laughed. “You need to learn how to share, Meeko,” she scolded, and took the fruit, tearing it in two and handing half back to the raccoon before crouching to hand the other to the dog, who looked almost as smug as a person would. “I’m sorry, these two are constantly like this.”

“It’s alright,” Aeleus said, amused. “I think we needed the interruption.”

The two animals continued to argue in their own way as they finished the trip, reaching another settlement -- this one was different, the trees cleared away to make room for a wide open space, some sparse crops in the area around the place, walled with huge logs. A few men lingered around the gate, looking more like Terra and the others than Pocahontas, and they waved at them when they saw them, greeting Pocahontas genially.

She returned the greetings with a smile and wave, leading them inside. The buildings were all sturdy wood, smallish and more structured, and it seemed like they’d tried to make it as much like a normal town as possible with what little they’d had on hand. It was definitely a contrast to Pocahontas’s village, Terra thought, and she at once stood out and seemed comfortable there. She led them to one of the men, a skinny young man with red hair and a green cap, and he smiled at her and waved.

“Hi, Pocahontas,” he said. “Good to see you!” He glanced at the others with her, then, looking a bit confused and curious. “Who are they?”

Terra blinked, uncertain how to explain themselves given the world’s situation, but Ienzo stepped in with a smile. “Travelers,” he explained. “From far away. We came to help with the creatures that have been bothering your settlement.”

The boy perked up.at that. “Oh, you are? That’s great!” He offered his hand. “I’m Thomas, the, uh...elected leader of Jamestown, I guess. It kind of just happened. But in any case, thank you so much. They only come out at night, so far, but they’ve already gotten a few of our men, and with what happened with Ratcliffe months ago...everyone’s really on edge.” He sighs. “We don’t know what’s doing it, so all the help we can get is welcome.”

Something in the way that he said that made them pause, and it was Lauriam who spoke up. “All the help you can get?” He asked, still a bit quiet and a little tense. “Is there someone else here who offered?” Granted, Terra figured that the other Keybearer would have to be around _somewhere_ , given the Heartless problem, but he hadn’t really thought they’d have just...well, okay, maybe it was a bit dumb of him not to assume they would head to the first town they saw to offer help or at least _stay_ , but...he really didn’t know how to deal with this kind of situation. He wasn’t used to there being Keybearers he didn’t know or know anything about.

“Yeah,” Thomas said with a grin. “Someone arrived a few days ago, offering his help with the same thing.”

Lauriam seemed even more nervous -- to which Ienzo hoped this would mean the answers would out soon -- and Terra nodded; this was their Keybearer, then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should let you know I spent this entire chapter on edge, hoping that I wouldn't fuck up. Granted, Pocahontas is a very Disneyfied and not at all realistic portrayal of anything, and a level of fudging is allowed because Fantasy, but all the same, I wanted to be as respectful as possible. I hope I did okay. (Also I kept forgetting who was around and who wasn't post-movie, because I got to Jamestown and finally went 'wait John was gone after the movie'. Man, it's been a while.)
> 
> In the meantime, yeah, I know what you're thinking -- "But that's not a quote from Pocahontas up there, that's Irish! What's that mean?" -- and...well, think about it for a bit longer, you'll catch on ;) and if not, you'll see next chapter. Also next chapter: Lauriam is finally called the fuck out.


	44. Long-Awaited Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group finally meets their new ally -- and it's someone unexpected, but someone known to them: someone long awaited. As for the secrets being kept...it's about time they come to light, don't you think?
> 
>  
> 
> _'An té a bhíónn siúlach, bíonn scéalach. (He who travels has stories to tell.)'_

“Can we meet the other traveler that’s here?” Terra asked, hoping it was possible. “We’d...if we’re all going to be working together, we should get to know each other a little first.” Well, that was true, but there were a lot of other reasons, too. Granted, ones that he couldn’t tell Thomas, but at least he could say as much as he had.

“Of course!” Thomas said with a grin and a nod. “Hey, Franklin, can you take them out back?” He called to a younger boy. “I need to talk to Pocahontas a bit, and I think our other guest is there, too.” 

“‘Kay, Mr. Thomas!” The boy said, and motioned to the group before darting through the village. Terra laughed at that and headed off after him, the others following. Lauriam took up the rear, dragging his feet and looking reluctant, but following anyway. This was the moment of truth, Terra hoped. Whatever Lauriam was hiding, it’d come out.

The boy led them to the back of the settlement, where a low fence had been set up around a field -- a makeshift stable on one end showed it was probably a pasture, but the horses were all stabled for the time being, leaving the area empty save for the other guest -- the Keybearer. Seeing him from the back didn’t tell any of them much; he had short black hair, and was in dark clothing -- a battered brown leather jacket and dark pants, with black gloves and sturdy looking boots. The only real color came from the ends of a red bandana around his neck, and Ienzo blinked. A red bandana...? 

He had a few small ceramic pots he’d set up on the fencepost, and was loading one of the really old-fashioned rifles they’d seen in the village proper -- Terra wasn’t even sure how those things worked, honestly, but the stranger did, fingers so quick and deft about it that he barely could tell what he was doing. But he finished, hefted it like he knew exactly what he was doing, and with a bang that made them jump shattered one of the pots. 

The boy had already departed by now, so Terra took the chance when the man had lowered the rifle to approach. “Hey,” he called, and the man turned in the middle of muttering something disparaging under his breath about one-shot firearms, blinking in surprise. He looked to be about Terra’s current age, in his late twenties, with chocolate brown eyes and two small scars on his left cheek that looked like Heartless claw marks. He looked genuinely startled and taken aback for a moment, and then laughed, a smile settling on his face.

“Hey yourselves,” he said, voice with a thick and slightly lilting accent to it that Ienzo, for one, swore he had heard before. “You know, you’re lucky Keyblades have some kind of distraction aura around them or something, or else you’d never get away with hair that color around here, Pinky. You too, little guy. I mean, what even _is_ that color?”

Ienzo burst into laughter himself at that, smiling to himself and shaking his head. “Grey is my best approximation,” he admitted. “It’s hard to pin down, but regardless, I see your point. I’m Ienzo, and these are my friends -- though we’re not all Keybearers, we are affiliated enough to have that, ah...distraction aura, as you put it.”

“Ah,” the man said, grinning. “Well, nice to meet you lot. Guess you’re here for the Heartless?” Terra nodded, and he crossed his arms. “Figures. Damn, though, I didn’t...I suppose I should’ve guessed there would be other Keybearers in this day and age, but I didn’t think I’d ever run into ‘em. The universe is pretty big, after all.” He stuck out a hand. “Name’s Jasper.”

Ienzo smiled to himself even as Terra looked genuinely surprised. He’d been right, then -- this _was_ Jasper. “It’s nice to meet you, Jasper,” he said, as Terra shook his hand. “It really is. And I think we have a lot to talk about.” They certainly did -- especially since, well...here, now, was a chance for im to see his father again, and to save him, too.

Jasper frowned slightly. “We do?” He asked, confused, and then glanced at Lauriam again, who looked torn between genuine relief and that edge of anxiety still tensing his frame. “...have we met, Pink?” He asked. “You definitely look familiar...”

All eyes shifted to Lauriam, then, and he froze like a deer in headlights, shifting back on his feet like he wanted to run. That answered one of Ienzo’s questions, honestly, proving that he was still as observant as ever in his mind, but before he could press the topic, he heard shouting, and they turned to face the village to see Pocahontas come running up along with another girl from her village, hair pinned up in a loose bun.

“Terra!” She called. “The creatures, the evil spirits, they are attacking our village! We need your help, please come!”

Terra and the other didn’t need to be told twice, and it was -- at least for Lauriam, obviously -- a relief for the conversation to be on hold. Jasper, too, didn’t need encouraging, and the five of them all ran off after the two women, who led them back through the forest towards the native village.

There were a lot of Heartless, Terra took note. A lot of Purebloods, this time, Shadows and Neoshadows and some odd ones that looked like Shadows riding flowers, but there were Emblems, too -- some floating ones that looked like pumpkins, a lot of the flower ones bursting out of the ground, and ones that looked like the archers he’d seen in Daybreak Town. They surrounded the village, and the warriors there were shooting at them with their bows as best they could, keeping the others safe and backed into the center of the tents and buildings.

Not much needed to be said -- the group called their weapons and leapt into battle, cutting through the Heartless and defending the village. Aeleus pulled up a low wall of earth around the outer line of buildings, keeping the Heartless out, and stood guard at the edge of it with Ienzo throwing magic from afar, while the other three fought in the fray. Terra and Lauriam swung their Keyblade and scythe, but both of their attention was quickly drawn to Jasper, who had summoned his own weapon.

And...as they’d suspected, it was a Keyblade. Not one either of them had seen before, a unique one -- the shaft and handle was a dark forest green, the bottom with three points extending from it, and the guard was silver, ending at the top end in what looked like hands holding a heart, a stylized crown atop it. The teeth were gold, a three-pointed spiral that looped around the top of the shaft and itself like an odd triangle, and the keychain itself was a small green clover.

There wasn’t much time to comment on it, though, as they were in combat, but it went quickly with the three of them in the thick of it and Ienzo throwing magic, and soon enough all the Heartless were gone. Dismissing their weapons and Aeleus reversing his spell, they made sure everyone in the village was alright before heading off in silence back in the direction of Jamestown.

“...so you _are_ a Keybearer,” Terra said finally as they walked. “I thought as much, but...you know, I’ve never met a Keybearer that I didn’t know, or that wasn’t connected to me somehow. So this is new.”

Jasper laughed. “Really? Wow, then that’s-- damn, talk about a downgrade.” He said. “How many of us are there now? Not counting me, I mean.”

“Uh,” Terra said. “Me, Aqua, Ven, Vanitas, Lea, Sora and his two friends, Xion, Roxas, King Mickey…” Not counting Xehanort at the moment, but they’ll have to soon enough, he figures. “So that’s about ten. Maybe eleven, if Yen Sid still uses his, but he doesn’t count himself in the numbers, so I guess not him.”

“Ten?” Jasper said incredulously. “Just-- just _ten_ of you? Holy shit, that’s ridiculous.” He looked a little distraught for a minute. “What about the Dandelions?” He asked. “Have you ever heard of them? They-- they were supposed to still be around after the war.”

“We do know there was a lot more of them, once,” Ienzo said. “We visited a world called Daybreak Town recently, and we heard the stories of the war -- not very detailed, but enough that we know the basics.” He paused, letting Jasper shake off the once more somewhat upset expression. “As for the Dandelions, we don’t know much, but given the context and what we’ve heard, I suspect that Terra’s friend Ven, at least, might have been one of them.” He paused, then, thinking -- it was true, Terra had given the impression in his explanation that Ven had been around during the war, with what the ‘norted version of his friend had said in Daybreak. And then he glanced at Lauriam, who had been so very upset when they’d gotten back from there, who had been acting so strange since. “And,” he added. “I also suspect we have another Dandelion among us. Isn’t that right, Lauriam?”

Three pairs of eyes joined Ienzo in staring at the pink-haired man, who had stopped dead in his tracks and gone stark white, eyes wide. “I--” He tried, voice slightly shrill. “I don’t-- I’m not-- what are you--” 

“Lauriam,” Ienzo said sternly. “It’s going to be a lot easier for everyone if you just tell us the truth. No one’s going to be angry at you about it, and I’m sure Jasper would very much like to know that he isn’t the only one who made it out.”

He glanced at Jasper, whose expression seemed to agree with Ienzo’s assessment. “Y-Yeah,” he said. “It’s alright. I’m-- _shit_ , as if I wouldn’t be over the damn moon to hear someone else-- I’ve been looking for nearly twelve years at my count, hoping to find some sign of someone, but nothing. Not a single thing. If you…” He was trying to keep it neutral, of course, but there was a razor edge of desperation in it that Ienzo, again, recognized -- and, he thought, it made sense. He’d lost everything once. The idea that he’d lost it all again in the war...that would be too much. “I mean,” he added, forcing his voice light. “So long as you weren’t in _Ursus_ , yeah?”

That got a somewhat hysteric laugh out of Lauriam, and he covered his mouth with a hand. “No,” he said finally, voice slightly shaky. “Anguis. _God,_ no, not Ursus. They were boring, and their Foreteller was scarier than Aeleus here.”

That was as good a confession as any, and one could see Lauriam’s shoulders relax slightly now that it was out in the open. “Ooof, yeah,” Jasper said, glancing at Aeleus. “Though this one’s a lot bigger. Anyway, I guess Anguis isn’t _so_ bad. Not as good as Vulpes, though, but hey, we were the best definitively, so you just all had to keep up.”

“Oh, great, you were in _Vulpes_ ,” Lauriam said with a roll of his eyes and a somewhat relieved smile. “Arrogant jackass,” he said, shoving gently at Jasper, who laughed and swatted at him. He definitely seemed a lot more relaxed, now, that his secret was out, and it was kind of amusing, but there were still questions to be asked.

“If you’re a Keybearer, Lauriam, where’s your Keyblade?” Ienzo asked. “I can understand not being able to call it while you were without a heart, but now? And not to mention, how did you know Ven, and how are you two still around now? This could be important, you realize.”

Lauriam blinked, and then looked away. “I don’t know,” he said flatly. “I don’t know where it is, or why I still can’t use it, and I don’t know exactly how I’m still around. A lot of my memories are gone.” He turned to look at them, blue eyes cold and angry. “I was one of five people chosen to replace the Foretellers after the war,” he began. “There were five of us -- myself, Ephemer, Skuld, Blaine, and Ven. We were to keep an eye on the Dandelions while they slept, and figure out how to…” He trails off. “I don’t know. I can’t remember that, either. What I _do_ know is that there was a traitor, and whoever it was...they’re the reason I don’t remember most of this.”

“And...it wasn’t you?” Aeleus asked. “No offense meant, Lauriam, but given your behavior in Castle Oblivion…”

Lauriam bristled. “No,” he snapped. “It wasn’t me. I staged that coup because I didn’t trust the Superior, alright? Not because of some grand evil plan.” He hissed out a breath. “It wasn’t me. I know it wasn’t, because I do remember the one thing I found out about this traitor. Whoever it was, they weren’t supposed to be in our group of five. They killed someone and took their place, and the person they killed was my friend. One of my only friends, in fact, and my roommate in Daybreak Town. They killed Strelitzia, and I know for a damn fact that even though I don’t remember half of what I know I knew, _I wouldn’t do that._ ”

“...I believe you, at least,” Jasper says. “I...we were all a mess in the end, turning against each other. I was at the final battle, I know. Hell, I turned down an invite to the Dandelions because I didn’t want to run-- I remember thinking I should’ve, in the end, but it was too late. But I know that the friends we made, our little groups in the Unions, those were the people we wouldn’t hurt. The only family us stupid kids and our stupid ideals had.” He patted Lauriam’s shoulder. “We’ll figure it out, Pinky, don’t worry. But I believe it wasn’t you.”

“So do I,” Ienzo said. “You were a Keybearer once, before you were Marluxia. You were probably a good person then, and that doesn’t entirely go away regardless of how much of an ass you were as a Nobody -- and you were an ass, don’t deny it. So if you say the boy you were wouldn’t have been the traitor, I believe you.” He shrugged. “Besides, it isn’t like you weren’t absolutely right to try and take over from Xemnas, given what he was up to.”

Lauriam let out a quiet laugh and raked a hand through his hair. “Thank you,” he said. “I...it actually does mean something, that you have that much faith in me. It’s the bare minimum, and really I don’t deserve more than that -- because yes, he was an ass, and so am I, and even with a heart I really only feel bad for one thing, but...it’s enough, I guess.”

“Hey, you’re allowed to be an ass,” Jasper said. “I’m an ass. We’re child soldiers and war veterans, we have an excuse.” He shrugged, laughing and shaking his head. “I guess you don’t remember what happened to dump you closer to the present day?”

“Not at all,” he admitted. “And I was disoriented enough from that to end up losing my heart for a few years, so...really, it’s generally a stupid situation.” He grimaced. Especially given Xehanort, but one thing at a time. “What about you? How did you make it here?”

Jasper blinked, and then seemed to fold slightly in on himself. “Well,” he began, and Ienzo and Aeleus exchanged looks. That was a tone both of them knew well, the tone that said someone was about to be either lying his ass off or making up bullshit off the top of his head. “I mean, I’ve been around this era for twelve years now, it’s not like I was _recent_...and, y’know, does it matter? I’m here, right, so...hey, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, y’know?” He managed a sheepish smile and scratched his scars. 

“Right,” Aeleus said, amused. “And what have you been doing for twelve years?” Twelve years...that was about the time Xehanort had turned up at Radiant Garden in Terra’s body. Perhaps whatever happened then had something to do with his arrival in this era. 

“....wandering?” Jasper said, voice lifting in what sounded like hope. “Mostly just wandering. Killing Heartless. Y’know. Stuff. Things. Apparently being completely out of the Keyblade loop. That-- that stuff.”

Terra, who’d been silent most of the discussion -- mostly just absorbing information, snorted. “You’re lucky,” he told him. “You...it’s good you stayed out of it for this long.” He wasn’t stupid; he was dense, sure, but he knew the name Jasper, and he was so grateful he’d been off the radar until now. It would have been a disaster. 

“Yeah?” Jasper said. “Tell me more.”

“Not yet,” Ienzo said, irritably. “You’re not being honest with us, or at least, you’re not returning honesty with honesty. Lauriam didn’t have to say all that, but he did. The least you can do is return the favor.”

Jasper rolled his eyes. “As if I’d do that,” he said, and finally, Lauriam caught up with the rest of them, eyes widening comically. “I mean, Pinky’s a fellow Keykid and Fearless Leader over there has one too, but what reason do I have to trust any of you? I don’t know you, and you just said it’s good I was out of the loop. Who’s to say whose side you’re really on?”

He had a point, Ienzo had to admit, but they had a better one. “We know your father, Jasper Tallow,” he said irritably. “That’s our proof we’re on your side, that you can trust us. We know Braig, and he’s been looking for you for as long as I’m sure you’ve been looking for him.”

There. Point made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO YEAH, TO THOSE TWO LOVELY PEOPLE ( @Comicsandslushies and @arcaneScribbler ) WHO GUESSED -- U RIGHT IT WAS JAS, THE TALLOW BOY IS COMING HOME.
> 
> And honestly this is the chapter in which Lauriam as _Lauriam_ really became a full on character to me instead of me kind of skating by on writing Marluxia. I didn't really expect some of what he said or how he reacted but he's my son now. As for what he did say, I'm honestly trying to leave it a bit vague and who the traitor was up in the air, because I don't know you don't know WHO DOES KNOW, NOMURA FINISH THE KHUX PLOT ALREADY, so I didn't want to guess wrong. Memory loss is a good excuse, it happens here.
> 
> Really, though, I don't think it's Lauriam, just because it's way too obvious and such a blatant red herring -- of course we'd suspect the guy who becomes Marluxia McStageACoup! It's too obvious for KH, honestly. Who it is? No damn clue. But it's not Lauriam. (And honestly the 'Strelitzia was his friend' thing is based on some sad/cute art I'e seen on tumblr and on the fact that homegirl has a lot of plants in her room. Plant buddies!
> 
> ANYWAY, Lauriam is busted, he and Jas are bonding (Vulpes Pride Fuck Yeah), and surprise Jas we know your dad. The Colony part of the arc wraps next chapter, and then it's the moment I know I'VE been waiting for since like chapter 14. ;)
> 
> BONUS: Reference pictures for both [Jasper Tallow](https://78.media.tumblr.com/af138ee32a04e782d1be2c760a21a6d7/tumblr_pa26fmr0bd1rjqywoo1_540.png) (what a cutie) and his [Keyblade, Taistealaí](https://78.media.tumblr.com/c7c0f8116e1c84520163443d3d3e2e9a/tumblr_pa26fmr0bd1rjqywoo2_1280.png) (Irish Gaelic for 'traveler').


	45. For Remembrance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper speaks the truth, finally, reeling from the revelation that his father is alive, and they go to clear away the darkness. The light comes in many forms -- trapped in darkness and tempered with it, dark from the start, stained with loss and death, or wrapped with thorns grown to keep it safe -- but it is no less light. And then they go...and it is time for a reunion.
> 
>  
> 
> _'An cleas a bhíos ag an deaid, bíonn sé ag an mac. (The trick the father has, the son has.)'_

The reaction was immediate.

 _“--What?!”_ Jasper demanded, stepping forward, his eyes wide and his expression-- desperate, yes, and stunned, and hopeful, but there was a dark edge to it that, though it wasn’t entirely unexpected or unsurprising given what his father had done for him, was...worrying. “How-- you know--” His voice cut off with a strangled noise. “Where is he?! Where’s my father?!”

Aeleus shifted forward. “Easy, easy,” he said, holding out his hands. “We know your father, yes. Braig is...Braig is a good friend of ours. He-- he didn’t tell us about you for a long time, but he did, and we know how desperately he’s missed you. Just as much as you’ve missed him. He’s been looking for you for...a long time, I know that much. But we know him, Jasper, and looking at you...none of us could mistake you for anyone else but his son. It would be impossible not to know.”

“I…” Jasper tried, and his legs wobbled a bit. Lauriam stepped forward to catch him as he fell, helping him sit on a fallen long. “Oh god,” he managed. “Oh. I-- he’s _alive_. How is he-- he’s alive? He’s really…” He swallowed, burying his face in his hands for a moment, before looking up, brown eyes shining with tears. “Is he...is he okay?”

The others exchanged looks. “It’s...complicated,” Ienzo admitted. “But-- how did you survive this long, Jasper? We know...or at least suspect, that your father had-- some kind of magic, that pulled him to the present and brought him to our world twenty-two years ago. But you-- you don’t have that, I don’t think, and you said you weren’t a Dandelion…”

Jasper let out a quiet laugh, a little shaky. Whatever bravado or attitude he’d deflected with was gone for the moment, and he scrubbed at his face weakly. “I-- during the final battle,” he began. “It was...it was all kind of a blur, but...the whole world was falling apart around us, all of the worlds were. I...there was fighting, and I fell-- or-- or I was pushed, I could never tell, into a tear between the realms, and I...I fell into the Realm of Darkness,” he explained. Terra looked horrified, thinking of Aqua. Aqua had been in there a decade and had been so affected, and Jasper...he’d been in there ten times as long at least. But he seemed...then again, the circumstances were different, and...and again, he’d been free for longer.

“So you got out twelve years ago, you said?” He asked.

“Y...Yeah,” Jasper said. “There was light, and then I...just woke up in the Badlands, in the-- in the wreckage of the war. All those Keyblades…” He shuddered, shaking his head. “I left basically as soon as I had my feet under me, and I just-- I’ve been wandering since. Trying to...I don’t know.”

Terra nodded. “I think...I’m partially to blame to freeing you,” he said. “Twelve years ago, my friends and I had a huge fight with a Keyblade Master on that world, where the-- the graveyard is. I think the aftershocks of that fight might have reopened that tear and spit you out.”

“Oh,” Jasper said. “I...thanks, I guess.” He managed a smile, and then looked away, looking down. “I never...you know, I never thought I’d see him again,” he murmured. “I spent seven years looking for him after our world fell, and then I was...when I got out, and realized how much time had passed, I thought-- I thought he was dead, and…” His voice cracked, and he let out a short, broken laugh that sounded much like his father’s. “And then I was...what else was I supposed to do. Dad was gone, the war was over…”

Terra stepped forward to crouch with Jasper. “He’s not dead,” he promised. “He’s kind of an idiot, but he’s not dead. And you don’t have to be alone anymore, either. You have Lauriam, and you have us besides.”

“Exactly,” Aeleus rumbled. “Braig is our friend, and you’re his son. You have family, Jasper, and we’re glad to have you.”

Jasper managed another laugh. “It’s like you’re _trying_ to make me cry,” he said, rubbing at his eyes again and standing. “I...yeah. Thank you. And...we should wrap this up quickly, then. So I can-- so I can go with you. See my dad.”

The others exchanged another look -- it was going to be interesting, telling him what happened, and they needed to do it sooner rather than later. “Listen, Jasper,” Terra began. “About what I was going to say before, about the Keybearer situation--”

“It can wait,” Jasper said, shaking his head, and holding a hand up to stifle protest. “Just...let’s get this done. You can tell me once we’re-- once we’re back at your place. Whatever drama it is it’ll keep for a little longer.”

“...okay,” Terra sid with a shrug and a wry smile. Well, it could keep, he was right, but...well, he felt like Jasper would regret it. But then again, it might be a good thing: if Jasper knew now, he might rush off to his father’s side without finishing their business here, or be distracted and get hurt. It might be best not for him to know until they got back to the hotel. “In any case, let’s head back to Jamestown and figure out what to do from here. There has to be a source for the Heartless somewhere; there’s too many for there not to be.”

He just hoped Jasper was right and it would be quick -- the sooner they handle this, the sooner they could reunite the Tallows...and perhaps, Jasper would be able to fix what had been broken.

* * *

When they got back to Jamestown, Pocahontas was waiting for them by the gates. The group exchanged a startled look and approached, and the woman lifted a hand in greeting, looking amused. “You took a while,” she said. “I beat you here by a good length of time.”

“Sorry,” Terra said with a laugh. “We stopped to talk for a while. Is there something you wanted to tell us?”

Pocahontas nodded. “Yes,” she said. “My father and I spoke, and he suggested that if there is somewhere these evil spirits come from -- and there must be, for even evil spirits come from somewhere -- then perhaps Grandmother Willow will know. So I offered to take you to her.”

“Grandmother Willow?” Lauriam asked, sounding curious. “Well, if she’d know, there’s no reason not to talk to her. It’ll make taking care of this that much easier.”

Ienzo nodded. “True enough. Shall we?” He asked, and Terra nodded as well.

“Lead the way, Pocahontas,” he said, and she nodded, moving swiftly away from Jamestown and back into the forest. It was a different direction than the village, a twisting, uncharted path that they knew would be impossible to find again on their own. But Pocahontas seemed to know the way instinctually, bounding over logs and stones and slipping through trees, showing them where to leap over the shallow part of rivers. Wherever they were going, it was deep in the forest.

Aeleus was having trouble keeping up, Terra noticed, as his size meant he wasn’t quite so fast or agile, and Ienzo was with him, not having much stamina. He was fine, but Jasper seemed quicker, and Lauriam was almost as at home here as Pocahontas -- that was interesting, Terra thought. He’d seemed similarly in Sherwood, if thrown off because he was an otter. Wherever he’d been from before Daybreak, had it been a forest world like these?

Whatever the case, they finally broke the tree line, and found themselves in a huge clearing, a river running through most of it. On that river sat a willow tree, massive and looming above them all, its branches trailing in the water and surrounding the trunk so thickly it looked like a hill or a mountain made of pure green.

Jasper murmured something in a mostly unfamiliar language, something that sounded like ‘ _shee_ ’, and followed the group warily -- Lauriam, though, was right besides Pocahontas, looking at the tree almost wistfully. They pushed through the curtain of leaves, following the young woman up the the thick roots up to the trunk, where a root seemed to form a place to sit, right up close to a huge knothole in the trunk.

“Grandmother Willow,” Pocahontas called, lifting her hands up to the knothole. “We’d like to talk to you. We need your help.”

Ienzo could smell magic in the air, then, thick and heavy and tinged with spice and petrichor and the unmistakable scent of _nature,_ and he swore he saw leaves spiral a moment, colored out of season -- Lauriam picked one out of the air, the vivid red of autumn, and it vanished into his jacket. It was only a moment, and then the knothole twisted and warped into the face of an old woman, who looked around with eyes of bark and then laughed.

“Ah, Pocahontas, you bring me such handsome guess today!” She said with a chuckle, causing the young woman to sigh and shake her head with a smile. “And three of them carry such _light_ in them. I know your kind, boys, even if the light you carry is a bit the worse for wear. It’s good to see it still burns bright all the same.”

Terra reddened slightly, but smiled and nodded -- he was getting used to hearing that, really; it was nice to hear, and reassuring. Lauriam looked disbelieving, though, and Jasper shook his head. “I...don’t know if you could call it light, ma’am,” he admitted. “I’ve never been the altruistic sort of person, and I may _fight_ for the light, but I...it’s for selfish reasons. Don’t know if I carry it, not now and not ever.”

The tree-woman clucked. “Now, now. Your reasons can be whatever you want them to be -- you fight for the light and the goodness in the world, and regardless of why, that means you have it in you, too. Don’t be ashamed of why you fight, child. If it means something to you, it’s a cause worth fighting for.”

“Oh, uh,” Jasper said. “Thanks.” He managed a smile at that, and shared that smile with Lauriam, who let out a sigh of relief.

“Don’t mention it, handsome,” the willow said with a wink. “In any case, you boys are looking for the source of the evil spirits, aren’t you? Pocahontas, take them upriver, to where the stone cliffs are. You know the one. It has made its home there, the source of it, the darkness and evil that Ratcliffe left behind.”

Pocahontas nodded. “I know the place, grandmother,” she said with a solemn expression. “I’ll take them.”

“Just keep back, dear,” the tree-woman said. “Let the boys do their job. You have a strong heart, but they are those who fight the darkness. It’s for them to handle.”

As they all stood to leave, the willow called out to them. “Child,” she said. “The one with spring in his veins.” They all stopped, but it was Lauriam who turned, looking genuinely startled and a bit wary. The willow’s long branches moved and lifted like hands, gesturing for him to approach her. Slowly, he did, and she moved another branch to him as if to give him something. He held his hands out hesitantly, and in it she placed what looked like a flower, a thin green stem with a bunch of pale white blossoms on it like bells. “For you,” she told him. “Don’t forget what you are, no matter how the world changes you. Seemed like you needed a reminder.”

“I--” Lauriam managed, and then smiled faintly, tucking it away into his jacket as well. “I think I did. Thank you, grandmother.” He inclined his head towards her in a slight bow, and then shook it quietly at the others’ questioning looks. It seemed as if they weren’t going to get an answer from him about it, really -- and the way his face was, it seemed like some things were best left private -- so they followed Pocahontas away from Grandmother Willow, who wished them well one last time, and up the river towards the Heartless’s lair.

* * *

The Heartless’s lair was beneath a cliffside made mostly of rocks, extending up partway into the air almost like Pride Rock in the Pridelands, only half the size. There were Heartless around it, of course, and Pocahontas waited at the edge of the forest while they cut their way through to the cavern beneath where the source slept.

It turned out to be a huge Heartless, black and red and orange, that looked like a bear -- it was asleep when they arrived, Darkness rolling off it, but as they stepped closer, it woke, and charged them with a roar. It wasn’t as big as they’d thought, though, once it was out of the cave, and compared to other Heartless they’d fought it wasn’t so bad. “Not even the size of a Spider!” Jasper called, laughing. “C’mon, this is easy!”

It was, the Heartless going down in no time with the five of them, and they returned to Pocahontas triumphant. The darkness in the air was already fading as they returned to Pocahontas’s village, and by the time they got there, the world seemed back to normal.

“Thank you, warriors of light,” the chief told them, bowing his head in gratitude. “We are safe once more, and the evil spirits will bother us no longer. Pocahontas will pass this message on to the white men, so that they may know and not fear. I imagine you must go now, warriors -- ours is not the only place in danger, this we know well. Darkness spreads faster than light, and the light must always fight to keep itself lit.”

“But the light is strong,” Terra said firmly. “No matter how dark it gets, the light always keeps burning. And like the light, we’ll keep fighting. You too, sir-- never forget that, and I hope you and the people of Jamestown fight for the light, too.”

The chief chuckled. “We will try,” he said. “Now go-- fight on.”

Terra bowed, and the others did the same to varying degrees, and they all slipped out of the village to the cheers and gratitude of the villagers. They walked some distance away before opening a corridor, and Jasper raised his eyebrows.

“Oooh,” he said. “Never seen a darkness one before. I’ve always opened corridors with my Keyblade, but I knew you _could_ \-- it’s safe for you guys, right? I know I’m fine, but…”

Ienzo shrugged. “Safe enough,” he said. “We’ve dipped our hands in darkness enough at this point that it doesn’t harm us anymore-- well, the corridors don’t, at any rate.”

“Oh, good,” Jasper said, and it was then they noticed he seemed antsy, rocking on his feet with his hands shoved in his jacket pockets. They exchanged looks, and it was Lauriam who held out a hand.

“Come on,” he said. “I think you both have waited long enough. This is what you fought for, isn’t it?”

Jasper blinked, and then laughed, smiling sheepishly as he took Lauriam’s hand. “Yeah,” he said. “It is.”

That said -- and the group knowing that there wasn’t good news waiting for Jasper on the other end (though Terra, at least, believed that if anyone could make it good again, it was him) -- they all entered the portal back to the hotel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fight wasn't really the point of this chapter, so /skims. 
> 
> In between chapters Lauriam bit me hard with the Actual Backstory bug so I know too much about him now, and it's hilarious, and it influenced a lot of this chapter tbh (including the title; see: rosemary). You can guess where he's from but I doubt you'll get it. We'll see if it ever comes up. 
> 
> As for Jasper...poor guy. He's been through a lot. But he's here anyway, and really, kid, you don't have to be a good or selfless person to be a hero. You got this, you all do. It's cool.
> 
> And now? And now the chapter we've been waiting for -- the Tallow reunion. B) 
> 
> (ALSO FUCK FUCK FUCK THAT E3 FROZEN TRAILER, FUCK FUCK FUCK, AQUA, NO, GODDAMNIT WHY THIS)


	46. le chéile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunions, long-awaited ones: one has been a decade in the making, and one far longer. But everyone is together, now, and....now comes the final hurdle. Now comes the time to rescue Ventus.

The five of them stepped out of the portal, Jasper a few steps ahead of the others, and he stopped to look around at the lobby. “Wow,” he said, glancing around him. “Swanky place. Is it empty besides you guys?”

“There’s about sixteen of us,” Terra said, doing some quick counting in his head. “But yeah, besides us, there’s no one else here.” He stepped forward to beside Jasper, glancing over his shoulder and silently asking the others to go tell them about their guest. Aeleus and Lauriam nodded and disappeared into the side halls, but Ienzo remained -- why he was so dead set on seeing this reunion through, for good or ill, he wasn’t sure, but...he felt like he had to.

“All to yourselves?” Jasper asked. “Nice.” He looked around one more time, and took another step or two forward. “So where’s my dad? Can you-- can you take me to him, or call him down, or--” He stopped, finally registering the expressions on the other two’s faces. “--what is it?” He asked, his voice getting an edge to it again. “What’s wrong?”

Terra and Ienzo shared a look. “We tried to tell you before,” Ienzo said. “It’s complicated. We wanted to warn you earlier, but…” He knew he should be more reproachful, but he did understand Jasper being in a hurry, and that maybe this wasn’t the time. “Your father is--” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Maybe we should start from the beginning.”

“There’s a Keyblade Master named Xehanort,” Terra told Jasper, who was looking increasingly pale and upset. “Twelve or so years ago, me and two others were apprentices to a Keyblade Master named Eraqus, and-- well, the short version is that Xehanort, wanting to recreate the Keyblade War, tried to use us to do that. He used my friend Ven to create something called the X-Blade, splitting him in two and then shattering his heart, and he possessed me, putting his heart in my body. My friend Aqua was trapped in the Realm of Darkness trying to stop him.” He swallowed. “A lot happened after that. Xehanort means right now to collect thirteen ‘darknesses’ to achieve his goal, and he’s doing that by possessing people, putting fragments of his heart in theirs, and he’s using time magic to pull other versions of himself and his puppets to help.”

“Shit,” Jasper managed weakly. “What the hell? Another-- another war? Why would he want to do that? Wasn’t it enough that the first one--” He shook his head. “Possessing people…that’s messed up. I--” He broke off. “...Dad?”

Terra nodded reluctantly. “While a lot of his puppets are himself and the, uh...versions of my possessed body and heart, two of them were people here. One of them, Isa, was freed by his best friend Lea, who’s another Keybearer.” A swallow. “And Braig….Braig was the other. From what he said, he willingly offered to work with Xehanort because he’d offered to help him find you, but he didn’t know until it was too late about the possession.” It was more complicated than that, but he didn’t want to...that was for _Braig_ to admit.

“What. _Happened?”_ Jasper demanded, still pale and with an edge in his voice. “Stop beating around the damn bush and tell me! What did-- what did this Xehanort bastard do to my dad?!”

“...Braig betrayed him to help us, in the end,” Ienzo said finally. “To redeem himself in our eyes. I...I think I helped him make that choice, or Terra and I both did.” He shifted slightly. “But because of that, Xehanort shattered his heart. It’s not irreparable, but...we don’t know how to fix it.”

There was silence, and then Jasper was moving forward, grabbing Terra by the collar and shaking him. “And you _let_ this-- _you_ \-- why didn’t you--” He broke off, shoving him and turning away, shaking and clenching his fists. “I’m not-- it’s not your fault. I don’t--” He ran his hands through his hair. “Dad knew what this guy wanted, and he-- for _me?_ To find _me--?_ This bastard who wants to-- doesn’t he know-- or no, he must know, and he wants to do it anyway? Shit. _Shit.”_

He swallowed thickly and then laughed, turning to Terra. “And the worst part? I would have done the same thing,” he confessed. “If someone came to me offering me a way to find my father, I would have-- I would have done _anything_. So I can’t even...I can’t even be mad.”

“You can be mad at Xehanort,” Terra said. “Trust me, I know-- he tells you exactly what you want to hear, gets you to do exactly what he wants, and then twists it all up so the only hands with blood on them are yours. He did that to me, and he did that to your dad. And your dad...it took a long time for him to find the strength to fight. He’s...he’s a mess without you, a mess thinking he messed everything up. But he found it in him to do the right thing, and...he doesn’t deserve this. He deserves _you_. To be with you, and to have a second chance, a real one.” He managed a smile. “I’ll take you to him. We may not have been able to fix him, but...you’re his son. Your heart is connected to him in a way none of us can match -- you two have been searching for years, and you never gave up. That bond, on top of being family...I think you can help him, if anyone can.”

Jasper swallowed again, and then managed a tiny smile despite still looking upset and shaken. “I...I’ll give it a go.”

The three of them headed up to Braig’s room. They’d put him in a room like all the others, and Even was in and out of it a lot just to check on him -- but his condition was still the same. He was still asleep, breathing steadily and normally, like he’d wake up at any moment. But he hadn’t. As they walked in the room Terra immediately stuck his arm out to catch Jasper, who nearly dropped to his knees, and instead clung to Terra like driftwood.

“ _Dad_ ,” he whispered. “Oh, god. Oh my god, _Dad_.” His voice wobbled, and he let out a shaky laugh. “He got _old_.” He said shakily. “A-And his face, that’s--” A hand came up to touch his own scars, on the same side of the face as the one that sliced across Braig’s cheek. “I--”

Terra nudged Jasper gently, and he slowly walked to Braig’s bedside, slumping onto the bed and reaching for his father, fumbling for his hand and clinging to it tight. “Dad,” he repeated. “Oh, _Dad,_ you-- we’re both idiots,” he said weakly. “You and me. We’d...we’d do anything for each other, and...and we nearly screwed up bigtime because of it. Well, you-- you _did_ , and I would’ve.” He leaned forward slightly, so that the other two couldn’t see the tears in his eyes. “And now I find you, and you’re not home. I...I can try, Dad, but what if it...what if I’m not...”

“Try anyway,” Ienzo said quietly. “But have faith. It will work, I know it will.” The man who had hunted for his son for nearly thirty years, searched across the worlds and across time, who had sold his soul for the chance to get his child back -- and the son who had fought a war for the same chance, the chance to find his father. There was no way that the bond between their hearts wasn’t strong enough to repair what was broken.

Jasper looked up at them a moment and nodded slowly, his face already wet with tears, before he summoned his Keyblade. He held it a moment, quiet, before he turned slightly and laid it across his lap, the tip of it resting flat on Braig’s chest. “... _Tá sé in am teacht abhaile, athair._ ” As he spoke, the tip lit up, and Jasper closed his eyes.

* * *

_He knew what a heart looked like, remembered the stained glass -- his had been green and gold and violet, patterned with wildflowers and Aire knotwork -- but this was...this was that, but it was shattered. Torn apart, fragmented, the glass in endless jagged pieces like someone had thrown a rock through a window._

_“Athair!” He cried, voice echoing in the darkness around them. “Athair! Papa!”_

_His feet hit a piece and it glowed, the edges sparkling, and he blinked. On a whim, he leapt to the next nearest piece, and the one he’d been on was dragged closer, the seams connecting like a puzzle. He did it again, and again, leaping from fragment to fragment like stepping stones across a river, until his legs gave away and he fell._

_It wasn’t without cost, dragging the hundreds of fragments of his father’s heart together. It wasn’t his, and though he was connected to it by blood and by love, the light in his chest could only light the way so much, could only repair so many of the gaps._

_“Athair!” He cried out again. “Wake up! Wake up! It’s me, it’s Jasper! I’m home!”_

_He didn’t hear his father’s voice, but he felt his presence, warm and dark like the smell of whiskey and spice at the bar’s fireplace, rough hands on his shoulders and in his hair and the feeling of safety, of home and family._

_“Help me,” he begged. “I can’t fix you on my own. We have to do this together.”_

_Piece by piece, he pulled the heart together again, energized by his father’s presence, the feeling of hands moving with his, of not being alone. Finally it was complete, the picture emerging from the wreckage, purple and indigo and violet like a field of Aire flowers, with the same knotwork around its edges but the skyline of a castle city instead of the village they had come from. Other people belonged in this heart, too, he knew -- the people he’d met, who were with him here, the people who cared and worried, who...who hadn’t been enough. He understood that -- but not being enough didn’t mean his father didn’t love them, too, and if his father loved them, then they were his family too. Aeleus, Ienzo, and whoever else._

_They wouldn’t be alone again._

_He stood when the last piece fell into place, looking around, and across from him, then, there was light, light that silhouetted a person, a person who began to be more and more solid, and Jasper shrieked and tore across the station, tears in his eyes and a cry for his father on his lips, and-----_

* * *

Jasper gasped as he snapped back out of his father’s heart, dismissing his keyblade as if by reflex and nearly sliding off the bed. “Dad?” He managed immediately, leaning forward and grabbing his hand again. “Dad!”

Braig was still, eyes still closed and chest rising and falling evenly. “Dad!” Jasper begged again. “Athair! _Please!”_ Did it work? Had it failed? It was impossible to tell, and Jasper near bent double, shoulders shaking. “Please,” he repeated quietly. He’d come this far, been through so much, and to find he couldn’t save the one person he’d fought for all these years---?

A groan startled him from his terror and doubt, and his eyes widened. “Dad!” Braig stirred again, his good eye flickering open, its color the same chocolate brown as his son’s -- Ienzo had a moment to be relieved, profoundly grateful, and proud, before he pushed Terra out of the room and gently closed the door behind him. They could pass the good news on, now. Braig was alright. In the meantime...the Tallows needed time alone.

“What…?” Braig murmured, dazed and a little disoriented. He...what had happened? He knew he’d gone to fight Xehanort, he’d...he thought he’d be dead. One last bullet in the chamber, and he’d fired it, and...and he thought the old man would kill him. So why was he…? He blinked again, realizing there was someone in the room, someone clinging to his hand so tight it hurt, and he shifted to face them---

He knew then for sure he had a heart, because it nearly stopped. He wasn’t a little boy anymore, wasn’t the small child he’d lost, but-- those brown eyes, that dark hair, that face (god, he looked just _like_ him, the same sharp nose and thin face, but his mother’s softer angles), and the old bandana around his neck, the same red as the one folded neatly on the table beside them. It couldn’t be-- he was a man now, a man grown, practically Terra’s age-- but that face, those eyes-- “Jasper?” He whispered, hopeful and disbelieving and desperate all at once. _“Jas?”_

“Dad,” Jasper said, already in tears, and he threw himself at his father, who caught him instinctively and buried his face in his son’s shoulder, unable to prevent himself from crying as well. He was here-- he was here. How? When? Why? How was this possible? He hadn’t-- everything he’d done-- oh, it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter. His son was alive, his son was here, and that was what-- that was what mattered.

“Jasper,” he said, voice choked with tears. “Oh, god, Jasper. I’m so sorry, Jas, I looked-- I looked for you, I tried to find you for so long, but I couldn’t-- what happened to you? I’m so sorry, I couldn’t-- I was supposed to keep you safe…”

Jasper managed a wet laugh. “It’s okay, Dad,” he said, clinging tightly. “It’s okay. I know what-- I know what you did for me. I know. I’m-- I tried to find you, too, I wish I’d-- I wish I’d found you before you…” His voice cracked, and he shook his head. “But you’re alright now, and I’m here.” They were both here. “I...I missed you,” he said, his voice still broken and wet with tears. “I missed you _so much_. There was so much that happened, and so much I wanted to...and then I thought you were--”

“I’m okay, kiddo,” Braig said quietly, hugging his son tight. He was exhausted, still, and dizzy, but he was alright. He was awake and alive, and he could feel his heart in his chest, the warmth of his relief and his joy almost overpowering. “I’ll be okay. I missed you, too. But-- how did you…?” He trailed off, trying to think, and then his eye widened. “Kiddo, are you a--”

Jasper just nodded. “Yeah,” he murmured. “I am.”

Braig wasn’t sure what to call the noise that escaped him, but he pulled Jasper closer, tight as he could manage. His son was a-- right, so his heart betrayed him, twisting in guilt and pain and horror. His son had been in that war, had fought in that-- that graveyard, had-- his friends, those were his _friends--_ “I’m _so sorry_ ,” he repeated. Xehanort had been going to-- and--

“It’s okay, Dad,” Jasper said quietly, curling closer all the same. “I’m okay. I’ll be okay.” He smiled faintly up at him. “We both will. We’re together again, finally. And you...we’re not alone, neither of us.”

“Neither of us,” Braig repeated. If they forgave him, if they still...that was a thought for another time. Right now...they weren’t alone. “And...don’t worry, kiddo. We won’t let him win.”

Jasper just smiled faintly. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “We won’t.”

* * *

The next day, Braig was up and about again -- well, after a thorough examination and a just as thorough stern lecture from Even...well, Even and Dilan, who had to take over after Even got too emotional and had to throw his hands up and walk away -- and the group had all been caught up on Braig’s story and Jasper’s. Well, and Lauriam’s, much to his displeasure and Braig’s amusement.

The group was sharing stories, Danny sitting with Jasper and Lauriam, when Even hurried in -- avoiding Braig’s eyes, still clearly embarrassed. “Terra,” he called urgently. “Terra, Aqua is awake.”

“Go,” Vanitas said immediately, shoving Terra -- who didn’t need to be told twice, already on his feet. “Go see her, idiot.” Terra favored him with a brief eyeroll, before tearing off past Even, up towards her room. She’d been put on one of the lower floors, but even if she’d been right at the top it wouldn’t have mattered, Terra taking the stairs two at a time. She was awake! Oh, god, she was awake. What was he going to say? What was he going to do? What was-- what could-- how was it-- how was she--

A thousand questions, the culmination of everything he’d been afraid of and all his doubts and anxiety, it all built in his chest but it didn’t stop him from nearly falling through her door. “Aqua!” He cried, eyes wide, and his met hers where she was still tucked in bed, sitting up, and her eyes lit up even as they filled with tears, and she opened her arms.

“ _Terra,_ ” she said, her voice warm and shaking and filled with pure joy and relief, and he threw himself at her, gathering her in his arms and burying his face in her shoulder with a sob. “Oh, Terra,” she repeated. “I was-- for so long-- I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I should have-- I should have had more faith, I should have done things differently, I missed you so much, I just-- I wanted to save you, you and Ven--” She sobbed. “I failed you both, I’m so sorry…”

“It’s okay,” Terra said, hugging her tightly, tears running down his own face. “I know-- we all messed up, Aqua, we all did, I-- you know I messed up bad, you know I-- I tried, we both did, and we were just kids that didn’t know what we were doing. It’s okay.” He sniffled a little, trying to smile. “I know you tried. I-- that you tried, it means-- I’m so glad you tried. You helped save me, you _did_ , if it weren’t for you I could never have fought back, and he would have never been stuck without his memories for a decade. I know you didn’t-- I know you didn’t save me, but you did enough, and you protected Ven for so long, and…” He choked off. “Aqua, you did enough. You bought us all time. You did so much for us...and all I could do was fight back, and even then I couldn’t…” He shook his head. “It was me who couldn’t do anything. Not til now. But...we’re here now, and we’re together, and we’ll help Ven. Okay?”

Aqua managed a weak laugh, wiping at her eyes. “Okay,” she said. “You’ve grown, Terra. You...sound a little like Master Eraqus. But in-- in a good way.” Her face fell. “He didn’t...what he always said about the light and darkness...he was wrong, wasn’t he?” She leaned against Terra. “You still have it in you, but you’re still _Terra_. And...it’s not always bad, is it?”

“No,” Terra said. “Not unless the person using it is.” He sat back to smile at her. “I...I like to think I’ve grown up a little. Even if I’ve only been... _me_ again for-- for three weeks, maybe, I...I’ve learned a lot. And I remember a lot, and...I know I’ve changed. I hope for the better. But I’m still me.” He reached out to take her hands. “And...I missed you so much, Aqua. I’m so sorry, for everything I messed up.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Aqua said quietly, but she smiled. “For doubting you, and for...being so stubborn, for everything _I_ messed up. I missed you, too. I missed you so much.” She reached into her pocket, pulling out her Wayfinder. “But I had this, and whenever it got hard, I thought of you. You and Ven. And it...it got me through.”

Terra smiled. “Yeah,” he said quietly, pulling his out to hold next to hers. “Mine did, too. The three of us, bound together. Always with each other.”

“But Ven…” Aqua trailed off. “Xehanort, he...he got him, didn’t he? I don’t really remember, but I thought...I know he...” She looked guilty, looking away, but Terra gave her hands a squeeze.

“Yeah,” he said. “But we’ll get him back. Don’t worry. We freed two people from him already, and we’ll free Ven.” He smiled. “And...and get this. When Xehanort got Ven, Vanitas came back, too, and...he’s _here_. He’s helping us.” He paused, and hurried to add more. “He’s not that bad once you get to know him, honestly, he’s...Xehanort hurt him, too, Aqua. He was hurting and confused, and all he wanted was to go back to Ven. He wants that now, and he wants to help. He’s…” He trailed off, a little surprised as Aqua laughed.

“You took him in, too,” she said fondly. “Just like Ven. If you say he’s alright, Terra, I trust you. He _is_ part of Ven, even if he was…” She made a face. “...a bit of a brat,” she said finally, and Terra laughed, too. “But I learned...I learned that I can’t judge people just on how much darkness they have, so…if he’s part of our family, too, he’s part of our family.”

“He is,” Terra said. “And...so are a lot of others. They all want to meet you,” he told her. “They’ve all been helping me look for you and Ven, and they’re gonna help us fight Xehanort.”

“Sora and Riku?” She asked. “Those boys I met on that island? Or...Mickey?”

“Well, yeah,” Terra said. “But no. These are...it’s complicated.” He stood, and offered a hand once he was up, which she took. “Come on. I’ll explain on the way down.”

She smiled at him, giving his hand a squeeze. “I can’t wait to hear it,” she told him. And she couldn’t-- she had him back, free from Xehanort, and whatever had happened, anything good, anything she’d missed, she wanted to hear it. She wanted to hear Terra talk, to hear him be proud of something, to have that confidence she’s watched disappear the last few days before it all went wrong. She wanted to hear the old Terra, her dearest friend, and this new Terra, who seemed...stronger, somehow, for all he’d been through. Stronger and more certain. Whatever the case was, though, she knew...she knew she was proud of him. And she knew she’d never let anything tear them apart again-- the two of them, and Ven, too. They’d save him, and then they’d be together, and for the first time in over ten years, she truly, truly believed it.

* * *

The next two days were spent both catching up and helping Aqua and Braig get reacclimated to moving around -- given Braig had been asleep for three weeks, and Aqua had slept for five days for a very different reason -- and helping Aqua adjust to being free from the Realm of Darkness. She was getting along well with the others, though, and had gotten used to Vanitas surprisingly fast, as well as almost immediately taking Xion under her wing, even helping the girl pick out a new outfit from the extra things Danny had brought back with him.

In the meantime, though, Even and Ienzo had buried themselves in their makeshift lab, searching for Ven -- now that they’d found Aqua, and everyone was awake, all they had left was to find him and free him somehow. They’d called Vanitas in for a while, using him to form a base for a signal to track -- since they were connected, their signatures would be near identical.

It was two days after Aqua woke that they found the signal. Even called everyone immediately, and this time they met in the lobby, not the kitchen-lab. There wasn’t much to say, this time, only solemn looks and understanding. Terra glanced around at them all. “Aqua, Vanitas, Lea, Xion, Jasper-- it’ll be us, okay? All the Keybearers should be on this one.” He glanced at Lauriam sympathetically, who shrugged at him. “Everyone else, stay here -- when Ven...when we find him, the others will know, too, so...”

“So I’ll stay,” Jasper said. “If there’s a chance the hotel may get hit while you’re gone, you’re gonna need a Keybearer holding the fort, yeah? I’ll stick around. You’re all more attached to this Ven kid then I am, whether or not he’s from Daybreak.” He grinned. “Kick some ass for me, and I’ll keep an eye on everyone here.”

Terra grinned back. “Thanks, Jasper,” he said. “So it’s just the five of us...alright. Is everyone ready? This is it.” Well...it wasn’t the final battle, but it was going to be a hell of one anyway.

“I’m ready if everyone else is,” Lea said, flashing a thumbs up. “Xion? Vanitas?”

“Yep!” Xion said, and Vanitas just nodded, looking serious -- not that anyone could blame him.

“I’m ready, too,”Aqua said, reaching out to squeeze Terra’s hand. “Let’s go get Ven.”

“The world is called Atlantis,” Even told them. “It’s not Ariel’s world, the underwater one, but it’s...well, I don’t think there’s any form-changing magic on it, but all the same be careful.”

“We will,” Terra promised, and opened a corridor. “Come on guys, let’s go.”

The group all headed through the corridor, Aqua clinging tight to Terra’s hand -- she knew it was safe, trusted Terra, but still, the darkness was... -- and it closed behind them. The others dispersed, nervous and hoping for the best, and none of them noticed Ienzo slip through a corridor of his own, heading to the same place: he had a part to play and he knew it, so Keyblade or not, he needed to be there. So he would be.

They’d all be there, and they’d all fight...and they’d make damn sure Xehanort had one less Darkness.

And they’d get Ven back...together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO E3 AND THE TRAILERS AND AQUA AND BRAIG, FUCK YOU CANON, I DENY YOU. HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO MY PEOPLE.
> 
> Anyway, here you go, the reunions and the feels and...now we're heading into the climax guys, I can't believe it. We're so close, in the home stretch!! There's 4-5 chapters to go, by my count, including the epilogue. It's crazy.
> 
> So many feelings, and we've come so far, and here it is: time to save Ven. I can't wait, because I actually never wrote the outline for the Atlantis arc LMAO!!! That's why I'm not sure how many chapters it's going to be. TIME TO WING IT! Can't wait. 
> 
> As a bonus note -- [Xion's new outfit reference!!](https://78.media.tumblr.com/8016b537babcaa85b7e476ef8a10d54c/tumblr_pa6ppo33fT1rjqywoo1_500.jpg) She got one, too. Isn't she cute?
> 
> Thank you for sticking with me all this time, both old and new readers -- we're almost at the end.
> 
> Note: _Athair_ means father in Irish Gaelic, and _"Tá sé in am teacht abhaile, athair."_ means "It's time to come home, Father." Oh, and the chapter title is Irish Gaelic for 'reunion/together'.


	47. Underwater Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team arrives in Atlantis, and spare no time finding out exactly what Ven would be here for -- and that's where they go. It's time for the final battle, and it's one they cannot afford to lose.
> 
> _“I didn’t say it was the smart thing. But it is the right thing.”_

The group of them stepped out of the corridor and into a city. It looked...ruined, in a way, once great stone structures crumbling and old and in disrepair dotted amid what seemed a thick, emerald forest and and endless waterfalls and waterways around a tall mountain, but scaffolding and other projects seemed to indicate it was being worked on -- the city itself seemed to thrive anyway, though, people in bright colors moving back and forth, people of all ages. It was a little jarring at first -- they all had dark skin and white hair, and despite himself Terra flinched instinctively -- but it was...lively, full of life and laughter, a city alive despite the ruins in which they lived. Past the city one could see flat and endless water, trailing off into nothingness, and in the far distance, statues, their arms outstretched as if protecting the island city that lay behind them. Above it all was the roof of a cave far, far off, enough that it was nearly invisible behind fog-clouds.

“This is a beautiful place,” Aqua said, stepping forward to admire it more. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people…”

Terra stepped forward to stand beside her. “I know,” he said. “So many of the worlds we visited, we didn’t meet that many people, and...I don’t really remember seeing much life, not like this. Not even at the Coliseum.” The stands at the tournament had been pretty full, but this was...it made him realize, once again, how...sheltered they’d been, growing up in the Land of Departure. At least now they had a chance to remedy that, but...too late to stop much of what it had already messed up. They could fix their mistakes, sure, but...they’d already made them.

He stiffened slightly when Aqua took his hand, but relaxed and squeezed it reassuringly. She squeezed it back. “We’ll see more than this,” she said quietly. “Together, all of us.”

Terra opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted. “Hey, uh,” Lea began nervously. “Guys? We’re, um...we got company.”

Terra refocused, then, stepping back to look around them as he realized they were slowly being surrounded by guards. “Like deja vu,” he muttered, bemused. The guards wore light armor over top their blue clothes, and had staffs with hooked tips -- they looked more wary and suspicious than outright angry. Aqua stiffened nervously, glancing at Terra, but then the two relaxed, lifting their hands in surrender. The other three followed suit, and with a glance around at each other, the guards led them into a crumbling, mossy palace.

The throne room was massive, once beautiful but now...beautiful in a different way. The floor was water with stepping stones, lilies and grasses on the surface and the interior almost a contained forest of a sort, and the throne itself set against a large crumbling statue. It was draped with colorful cloth, and two people sat on it -- well, more lazed on it, as it was more a couch than a proper throne. One was a woman that looked much like the other people here, white haired and dark skinned, and the other was a skinny young man with glasses, pale and brunet and looking both out of place and completely at ease.

“Wow!” The man said, hopping up from his spot to awkwardly bounce towards them, excited. “Visitors! I-- how is this-- how did you get here?! The bridges, they’re all gone, and the Leviathan, and not to mention--” He shook his head. “How did you know about this place? It’s not...” A shadow passed over his face, and he frowned. “Why are you all here?”

Aqua bowed slightly, Terra following suit. “My name is Aqua,” she began slowly, a little nervous -- not that Terra could blame her after how long it had been since she’d had to interact with people on a...formal level. “I am a Keyblade Master, and my companions are also wielders of the Keyblade. We mean no harm in coming here, your majesties -- we seek to help you.”

The man frowned slightly, brow furrowing. “Keyblade,” he repeated, and looked at the woman, who nodded slowly. “That sounds-- hang on!” He hopped back over to the throne, picking up a well-worn old book and flicking through the pages. “Ah!” He tapped a page. “Wielders of a-a weapon of light, who protect the many realms -- many realms? okay then -- from darkness whereso-- wheresoever it lurks. Huh. That’s fancy.”

“Very,” the woman said amused, approaching the group herself. “It is a pleasure -- I was but a child when the last Keybearer visited Atlantis, and to us that was a very long time ago. We have all but forgotten much, but if his book speaks of you as guardians of the light, then you are welcome here.” She inclined her head. “I am Kidagakash -- you may call me Kida -- and this is Milo. We are the rulers of Atlantis. You are welcome here, Master Aqua, you and your companions.”

“Thank you,” Aqua said gratefully. “We have come to...to warn you,” she began, a bit cautiously. “There is a...man we’ve been fighting, who seeks to bring darkness to many worlds. We followed one of his-- his agents to this world, and we...don’t know why he’s here, but it can’t be for anything good.”

Milo and Kida exchanged looks. “The Heart of Atlantis,” Milo said tiredly, brow furrowing. “It’s gotta be. Of course. I mean...great power source, semi-sentient, guardian and life sustaining force of the entire civilization...what villain _wouldn’t_ want it?” He sounded bitter, and Terra was pretty sure it wasn’t the first time someone had gone after it.

“Yes, that must be why your enemy sent someone here,” Kida agreed, and crossed her arms, looking...worried, perhaps, but also determined. “I will take you to the Heart,” she told them. “It floats above the city, and it is hard to get to, but if you found your way here then I would not put it past the one you seek to get there.” She touched the crystal she wore around her neck. “I am of royal blood, and the Heart will respond to me if it is in danger -- so I must protect it as well.” She turned to Milo. “Will you…?”

He grinned at her, far more visibly worried but with steel in his eyes. “I’ll hold the fort,” he promised. “And if he shows up here first? Well, uh...you’ll probably hear me screaming.” He laughed. “Be safe?”

“I will,” Kida promised, and turned towards the others. “Let us go.”

* * *

Kida led the group out of the throne room, folding her skirt up to hang more manageably as she headed towards some of the guards, waving one over and speaking to them rapidly in another language. They nodded and a few of them took the crystals from around their necks -- Terra only now noticing that everyone had one -- and Kida passed them to the group. “Pieces of the Heart,” she told them. “Here, follow me, these will get us up to the top faster.”

She led them to what seemed at first to be stone sea creatures, leaping atop one and showing them how to activate it -- hand on the pad, turn the crystal, and the stone lit up, the statues lifting up like miniature airships -- or Keyblade gliders, Terra thought in delight. “This way!” Kida shouted, taking off, and Terra pushed his into flight, leaning forward with a grin.

It felt for a moment like...he was a kid again, racing the others around the Land of Departure. Wind in his face, the stone under his hand smooth like the metal of his glider...he’d loved it so much, the feeling of flying, of going fast. Maybe he could admit to himself now that yeah, so he was a bit of an adrenaline junkie -- something he’d been ashamed of back then, but did it matter now? -- but...it was still fun.

Aqua flew by him on another one, and she shot him a shy grin. He grinned and waved back, and she buzzed ahead. He contemplated racing her, but then slowed a moment to check how the others were doing. Lea was...doing, struggling a little to keep his fish steady but managing to keep it upright as he followed the group, and Xion and Vanitas -- who were sharing one -- were laughing ridiculously as they literally flew circles around him.

“C’mon!” Lea whined, yelping slightly and clinging to his fish’s fin. “This is hard! Stop pestering me or this’ll take days!”

“You can do it, Lea!” Xion called. “Just like Neverland! Race you!”

Lea stuck his tongue out at them as Vanitas laughed and whizzed by, and Terra laughed as well, speeding up to catch up with the two youngest. Maybe there was a fight in the near future, one none of them were looking forward to, but...for the moment, for right now, they could enjoy this. It was something he’d learned: enjoy what little happiness you can grab whenever you can grab it. You never knew how long it would last.

The group all finally made it up to the top, the top of the mountain -- which wasn’t a mountain at all, really, but a cluster of buildings reaching in staccato fashion up to the sky. They could see the Heart above them, a shimmering ball of blue light, flickering and floating and pulsing with power, surrounded by slowly spinning stone masks, carved with faces.

“....wow,” Vanitas said, staring up at it. “I can feel-- it’s...it’s like a heart, a real heart, exposed and just...floating there.”

Kida nodded. “The emotions of our people over the centuries,” she explained. “They are what sustains the heart, and in turn it gives us life and protects us.”

“And see--” Came a voice, and everyone froze as a dark corridor opened on the other side of the large open area where they’d landed, at the top of the towers. Ven stepped out of it, his hood already off and his golden eyes amused. “That’s why the old man wants it. Or, wants to use it. Can you imagine? A mass of sentient Light that big and that powerful, bound to the hearts of an entire people? The things we could _do_ with that!”

Aqua took a step back. “--Ven?” She managed, eyes wide. She knew what had happened, Terra had told her, but to see it, to see what had happened, and to-- to know it was her fault, in part, her fault for opening the castle and the Chamber… “Oh, Ven…”

Ven turned to look at her. “Oh! Aqua!” He grinned. “Someone fished you out of the darkness? Well, too little too late, I guess. Some Master _you_ turned out to be. Did you actually save anyone?” He shrugged. “Guess it doesn’t matter.”

Aqua flinched, but shook herself off. “I made mistakes. We all did. But we’re righting them now, and it may be too little, too late, but it’s still enough to try. We’ll try to fix what we did wrong, and be better than how we were. And saving you is-- is how I’m going to start.”

“Awww,” Ven said mockingly. “What a grown-up. So mature. Did you pick that up when you were stuck in the darkness?” He snorted, glancing from face to face, and then settled on Xion, who was staring at him in shock and confusion. “Oh? Who’re you-- oh, waiiiit,” he said, tilting his head. “The Replica?”

Xion nodded. “The Replica,” she said firmly, head held high. “I’m Xion. You’re Ven, right? I guess that makes sense, since you look like Roxas. Are you who Xigbar saw?” She paused and shook her head. “I guess it doesn’t matter,” she said, with the slightest of smiles. “You can go ahead and say whatever mean things you want to me, Ven, I’ve heard them all already, and it doesn’t bother me anymore. I know what I am and who I am.” She called her Keyblade. “And I know who you are, and it’s not this. You’re Vanitas’s missing piece, and I promised him we’d get you back.”

“Wow, really?” Ven asked. “You actually have a _friend_ , Vanitas! How about that? Never thought you had it in you. But then again, I guess the broken and defective gotta stick together.” He shrugged. “I mean, I’d probably be in that club, but...whatever.”

Vanitas snarled, bristling and upset, but Xion put her free hand on his shoulder. “We’re only broken because someone broke us,” she said. “Xemnas broke me, but I’m alright now. Xehanort broke you and Ven, Vanitas, but don’t worry. We’ll fix that, too.”

“We will,” Vanitas said with a growl, calling his own Keyblade -- Starlight, the yellow and purple one that belonged to the keychain the kids in Daybreak Town had given him, no longer his dark and menacing Void Gear -- and shifting into a fighting stance. “If we have to beat his heart out of you, Ven, we will. You hear me? You’re part of _me,_ no one else!”

Ven laughed. “Always solving problems through violence,” he said, calling his own Keyblade and shifting into a fighting stance, darkness already flickering around him. “Guess that’s just what you are, though. What we all are,” he added. “Us wielders of the Keyblade. All we can do is fight. It’s all we ever do, all we’ve ever done. Fight and kill, whether it’s Heartless or each other. A never-ending cycle.”

He grinned, watching as the others fell into battle stances. “Time to feed the cycle,” he said, half to himself. “Let’s go, then! Five on one--” He threw a hand up in the air, the darkness flaring around his feet and spitting Darklings into being around him. “--or how about _not!_ Come on, Aqua, Terra, Vanitas! Let’s make this good!”

Terra threw a glance at Kida, who was already backing up, giving them a nod as she leapt onto a nearby tower to keep out of the fight, and then turned back to Ven.

This was it, then. The final battle -- the battle for Ven’s body, for Ven’s freedom.

One they absolutely had to win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELL IT WASN'T SIX MONTHS AGAIN!!! I'm so sorry for the delay, guys. It turned out I did need to have an actual outline written before I started the last bit, and then I got caught up in rewatching the series again, an then I actually had to rewatch Atlantis...but here we go. The final stretch.
> 
> Three more chapters to go, all of you. Just three more. 
> 
> Next chapter we end the fight, and then...it's all downhill from there. We're so close, I can't believe it.
> 
> (Aside: I love Xion so much....what a good girl..... )


	48. Dark Winds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight with the possessed Ventus begins and ends, and it's time for a wayward heart to go home.
> 
> _“Our lives are remembered by the gifts we leave our children.”_

“Lea, Xion, get the Darklings!” Terra shouted, and the two nodded and split off from the group to chase down the Heartless Ven summoned. Terra had to admit, Lea had been practicing, and though he still seemed to have a bad habit of throwing his Keyblade, he’d figured out how to call it back quickly -- and other than that, he’d taken to the new weapon well, using it by itself and alongside a chakram on occasion. Xion...he didn’t remember ever seeing her fight, but she was a ferocious little fighter, her simple Kingdom Key a blur along with explosions of magic. He was oddly proud of them.

It was easier to focus on how well the younger Keybearers were doing, he thought, than focusing on his own fight. It was him and Aqua versus Ven, and-- neither of them were doing so well. Granted, it wasn’t because they were outmatched. Both of them had come a long way, and Aqua’s chains of light and her magical abilities were so much more powerful than he’d ever seen them -- and not to mention his own new skills, remembered from Xemnas or learned from his acceptance of his darkness -- but…

But they were fighting _Ven_.

He was stronger than they’d ever seen him, too, a laughing whirlwind of blows raining down on both of them -- either of them, they were swapping places just to keep up -- with speeds faster than the little boy they’d known could ever manage. Explosions lit around them, and darkness, and it wasn’t clear whose powers he was channelling, but the fight was rocking the area they landed on, gouging lines in the stone and crumbling bits of the statues and buildings around them.

“Come on!” Ven shouted, cackling. “What’s wrong?! Can’t hit me?! Am I too fast for you, or are you just too scared to break me?! C’mon, Terra, Aqua, give me your all! This isn’t a baby’s training course anymore, this is for real, and you’ll die if you don’t!”

Terra could see Aqua flinch slightly, her eyes shadowed as she sent another icy blast towards him, flipping out of the way of one of his attacks. She stumbled, slightly, when she landed, but she met Terra’s gaze from across the area and he saw the uncertainty in her eyes that matched how he felt. Ven...he wasn’t wrong.

He didn’t know how Aqua felt -- besides, of course, the fear of actually harming the person they were trying to save, their dear friend -- but...it was hard for him, he was realizing, to actively hit Ven in the first place. Not because he didn’t want to fight, no; it was...aside from Facilier, and that was a shaky one given he had seemed to be made of shadows himself, he didn’t fight _people_. And as much as he cared about Vanitas, he was in the same category. The only people he’d ever fought besides Xehanort was...Braig, and Eraqus. Real people, both, and he’d hurt them, badly. Braig had been the first real _human_ he’d ever fought seriously, and the man still bore the scars of that and always would. And though he hadn’t struck the final blow, he’d all but killed Eraqus. So...as far as he’d come dealing with all that had happened, he hadn’t-- he hadn’t had time, never had time, to come to terms with the very real blood on his hands.

And he didn’t want to add Ven to that list. But-- he had to fight. He had to save him, or else...or else he wouldn’t be able to live with it. He couldn’t leave the boy who was like a little brother to him to the same fate he’d suffered for a decade.

He took a breath, barrelling through a barrage of darkness-tinged blows from his possessed friend, bringing his Keyblade down in an overhead strike and letting go of the blade with one hand to shoot some crimson energy at Ven as he dodged out of the way. “You want a fight, you’ve got one!” He shouted, though not as confidently as he’d like. “We’re not gonna let you stay like this, Ven!”

“You will if you keep fighting like that!” Ven crowed at them, bouncing off one of the statues and casting a Tornado into the middle of the group, sending them all flying. He used the wind of the spell to keep him in midair for a moment, casting Faith -- the pillars spiraled outwards, knocking the already stunned group around, and as he landed Terra could see him light up blue, magic crackling around him. “Give me a _challenge_ , c’mon, you’re all so _scared_ of me! It’s pathetic! I thought you were _better_ than this!”

Terra hauled himself up to his feet, but then a blur of black and red shot past him -- oh, he thought briefly, he’d wondered where Vanitas had gone -- to slam bodily into Ven, knocking him backwards a few feet. The boy, Ven’s other half, stood there holding his Keyblade in both hands, eyes blazing. “You want a challenge?!” He shouted. “Well, _here I am,_ Ven! I’m not scared, and I don’t care what we do to each other! _I’m gonna beat you down ‘til Xehanort gives you back to me!”_

“That’s more like it!” Ven said with a laugh, throwing his arms out to activate the magic building, Keyblade vanishing as six swords of blue light -- crackled through with black -- appeared behind him like wings. “C’mon, Vanitas, you and me, round two! Maybe you’ll put up a fight this time!”

Vanitas laughed as well, darkness flaring around him. “That’s _my_ line, Ven!” He shouted back. “Let’s go!” He glanced back at Terra a moment. “This is _mine_ ,” he said, voice lowering. “Stay out of it if you can’t do it.”

“Vanitas…” Terra began, but the boy didn’t seem angry-- just...focused. So he nodded, moving to Aqua to cast Cura on her so she could help get the others up again. She staggered to her feet, glancing at Ven and Vanitas, locked in combat, and looked at Terra. He nodded at her and she let out a breath, nodding back, before the two moved to get Lea and Xion back up and fighting, as the Darklings kept coming. 

Meanwhile, Vanitas and Ven fought, the black-haired boy dancing around just out of the way of every one of Ven’s energy blades, throwing dark fireballs and crackling black electricity at the blond as he did so. Ven snarled in rage, throwing all six of them at once at the ground where Vanitas was, the area lighting up blue-black as the final strike exploded -- but Vanitas wasn’t there -- or he was, but the afterimage faded out after a few seconds. The boy flickered into being again right behind Ven, hitting him hard with an overhead strike to knock him to the ground, and followed him down to grab him, looping his arms under Ven’s armpits and holding him tightly, locking him in place. 

“Terra! Aqua!” Vanitas called. “Now’s your chance, idiots, finish it! Get it out of him!”

Ven laughed, struggling and kicking at the boy behind him. “You think they won’t?!” He demanded. “You think they won’t just stop at me?! You’re right here, dumbass, they’ll get rid of you when they hit me, and you know they won’t care! It’s not you they want, after all, never has been! You think Terra really _cares_ about you? Nice daydream, he’s just been biding his time until he can get me back! They don’t care what happens to you, you’re just my shadow and always have been!”

Terra opened his mouth to protest, but Vanitas cut him off. “I know that,” he said, voice loud but not angry; not resigned, either, though -- he almost sounded...calm. “I know it’s _you_ that belongs with them, it’s _you_ that’s part of their family. It’s not me and it’s never been me, Ven. I know. I’ve always known. You’re the one that belongs-- I’m just your shadow, the pieces left behind. I called you my missing piece, once, but...that’s not true. I’m yours.” He swallowed, looking away, and then looked up at Terra and Aqua, eyes somehow accepting, and more...there was something in them that hadn’t been, before. Terra couldn’t put his finger on it, but it was...his grip shifted on his Keyblade helplessly.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I...I finally get it, I think. Why you three always fought so hard for each other. Why you got so mad on each others’ behalf. I...I get it now. I didn’t, before, I thought it was stupid, but now...now I do. I get what it means to care about people, to-- to mean something to them. For them to mean something to you. And...you mean something to them, Ven. You mean a lot to them, more than I ever did or ever will. And--” He laughed, then, almost quiet. “And they mean something to me, I guess. So...if this is what they care about, I’ll fight for it. For you. And if that means I disappear, then that’s fine. It’s what I was trying to do anyway -- go back to you. And now I’ll be doing something...good, I guess.” He shifted, eyes narrowing. “So c’mon, Terra! Aqua! Finish it! Get your friend back!”

“Vanitas…” Aqua said quietly, her eyes shining. She hadn’t known him near as long as Terra had, not really -- a scant few days compared to the weeks that had passed before she’d been rescued and woken up. But she’d seen the difference in him, the difference from the masked boy she’d fought twelve years ago. He wasn’t a monster, wasn’t some creature -- maybe he never had been, and she was almost ashamed to think she’d thought of him that way -- he was just a boy. A boy like Ven, a boy that Xehanort had hurt, and who had never had what Ven had been given. Not until now, anyway, not until Terra had...and now he was trying to return the favor the only way he knew how. Even now, still thinking he was less important than Ven.

She looked at Terra, who looked genuinely upset, and knew -- he wouldn’t be able to do this. She loved him dearly, flaws and all; Terra had been one of her dearest friends for the longest time, and even if she’d made mistakes, there wasn’t a part of him she didn’t love...and despite his darkness, his temper, his stubbornness? He loved his friends fiercely, too fiercely to _ever_ want to harm them. (And that’s why he’d been hurt so badly, she thought. He’d been made to.) So...she squared her shoulders and lifted her Keyblade, pointing it at both of them. She was a Master, the one who carried the title even if she wasn’t the only one who deserved it. She’d bear this burden for him, to make up for all he carried. “Ven,” she said. “Vanitas. Let’s end this.”

Before she could strike, though, there was a rustle of paper, and -- when had that gotten there, they thought, as a single page of folded parchment flipped out of Terra’s back pocket and shot forward towards the two boys, unfolding itself and shifting back into... _Ienzo?_ He’d followed them?

The young man landed on his feet with a slight wince at the impact of his haste -- he’d followed them here, cast an illusion to hide himself in a piece of paper from his lexicon, and waited. This wasn’t his fight to start, or his fight to fight -- but he had the tool to end it, and he had to, now. Before anyone got hurt beyond anyone else’s ability to fix -- be it in body or in heart. This is why he’d learned this, this is why he felt like it would be important.

He wasn’t fast, didn’t have much stamina, but he used the momentum the paper had given him to get to Ven and Vanitas in moments, reaching out with a hand to touch Ven’s chest -- and his hand slipped through it seamlessly, like he was reaching into water. It felt strange, the magic coating his hand and crackling through him, the old and familiar magic Regina Mills had taught him -- but this is what would end it, and he felt something warm in his hand, a crystalline shard of something warm and pulsing -- not a soothing warmth, but a heat with the threat of searing pain. _The heart_.

He ripped it out of Ven’s chest, staggering back with the bright and shining fragment in his hand, holding it high so that everyone could see it, the red-white light shot through with Xehanort’s darkness -- and then he crushed it in his grasp, wincing as the shards sliced into his palm. But he was making a point, and making sure at least this piece of the old man would never be used again. Ven slumped forward with a sigh, eyes sliding shut as if falling asleep, and Vanitas dropped hard to his knees, still holding his other half and looking stunned, almost, like his bang of an ending had been cut off before it began.

“Keybearers,” Ienzo managed, out of breath as he shook his hand off. “Always so _dramatic_ about everything. We all appreciate the sentiment, Vanitas, truly we do, but you should know by now that you mean just as much to all of us as anyone else, and we’d never just let you disappear. We’re heroes now, apparently -- well, alright, some of us already were. But if there’s one thing I know about heroes? They find a way to make it all work out for everyone.” 

Vanitas managed a weak laugh, resting his forehead on Ven’s shoulder. “You jerk,” he said, voice muffled. “You let me make a sentimental doofus out of myself. I can’t _believe_ you...”

“Well, I think it’s mandatory for all Keybearers to get unbearably sappy at least once,” Lea said, studiously looking like he hadn’t been about to cry as he moved over to kneel down next to the two of them, gently taking Ven out of Vanitas’s arms. “Congrats, you’re part of the club now.”

Vanitas managed a shaky laugh at that, only to yelp when Terra threw himself at him, flailing a little in surprise as the older man hugged him tightly. “Terra--?” He squeaked, startled and confused. 

“Don’t you ever,” Terra managed, voice shaking. “Don’t you _ever_ think that you’re less important to me than Ven. Don’t you dare, Vanitas. You hear me? I want-- I want Ven back, more than anything, but I never wanted to lose _you_ to get him. I--” He hugged him tighter to keep himself from crying. “Don’t do that to me again. Understand?”

Vanitas was silent for a moment, before he burrowed into Terra’s arms, nodding faintly. “Yeah,” he said, voice still muffled and a little shaky. “I hear you.”

Terra stood, keeping an arm around Vanitas as he stood with him, and the group turned to Kida as she approached, looking more than a little impressed. “That was certainly a fight,” she said. “I am glad none of you are the worse for wear. Did you...is the boy alright?”

Lea nodded, adjusting Ven in his arms. “He’s asleep now,” he said. “But he’ll be alright. The worst is over. We’re, uh...sorry if we messed up part of your city?”

Kida laughed. “Oh, it is already very…‘messed up’,” she said, shaking her head. “This is nothing, do not worry. Now, I should thank you for protecting the Heart…” She bowed slightly. “Is there any way we can help you, Master Aqua and friends?”

“No, there’s…” Aqua smiled. “Just keep an eye out for anything unusual, any sign of darkness. That’s enough. We...we’d stay, but we have to get going now. There’s still a lot we have to do.”

“I understand,” Kida said, and smiled back. “Take care of yourselves, warriors of the Keyblade, and stay safe.” 

Terra ruffled Vanitas’s hair viciously, and moved to take Ven from Lea. The redhead handed him over, going over to ruffle Vanita’s hair as well before stepping aside to let Xion hug Vanitas as well. The boy seemed pretty overwhelmed by it all, and Lea didn’t really blame him. To be so ready to sacrifice yourself and then have it...thoroughly rendered unnecessary, and then to have everyone be so obviously concerned and glad you were alright...he can’t really speak for him, but-- he’d watched Xion and Roxas do all but the same thing for Sora’s sake, and failed to stop them. So he knew how Terra felt, and how he’d...how he thinks he’d have felt if he could have saved them sooner. So he was glad Vanitas was alright. Too many kids had sacrificed themselves for other people’s lives. 

“We should head to the Tower first, before we go back to the hotel,” Ienzo said. “I think we -- or rather, Ven -- have business there. Don’t we?” 

Aqua looked startled and a little confused, glancing at Terra, who nodded. “Yeah,” he said with a smile. “It’s time to wake him up, for real this time.” 

Goodbyes were said with Kida, farewells sent with her to Milo, and the group headed through a corridor towards the Tower. Yen Sid was there, and probably would appreciate an update and knowing Aqua and Ven were safe, but...more importantly, _Sora_ was there. Sora was there, and within him he held Ven’s heart.

And...after all these years, that heart would return to its body, and they would once more be under the same stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I....I can't believe this. It's over. The bulk of the fic is over. On more chapter and an epilogue and it's done. Oh my god. Oh my god. I'm boggled. 
> 
> In the meantime, here have some tasty drama and angst Vanitas flavored, and HEY GUYS REMEMBER THAT PLOT POINT FROM LIKE 20 CHAPTERS AGO????? YOU'RE WELCOME. Mmm, delicious payoff.
> 
> And next chapter, brace for some delicious feels and vindication and our wrap up.
> 
> (Why is that quote on this chapter? I dunno, maybe think about it as a reference to Eraqus somehow? But it just struck me hard when I rewatched Atlantis, so I wanted to put it here.)


	49. The Same Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hearts restored, friends reunited, and the last few threads tied. 
> 
> Ven and Aqua safe, they just have one or two more people to bring back...and then they'll be ready.

The lights of the Mysterious Tower were warm and reassuring, the space around them the colors of the sunset -- same as Twilight Town so close by -- and they all, even Vanitas, felt themselves relaxing slightly once they were there. It felt _safe_. Xion looked around curiously, having never been there before, and Ienzo as well. 

“I can smell the magic on this place,” he noted. “I suppose that’s Yen Sid?” 

“Yeah,” Terra said, already leading the way into the Tower proper. “S’him. He’s...a bit intense, but things should be alright now.” He’d already had it out about Ven, and everyone else was...of no trouble, he hoped. Xion, perhaps, but she was tough enough to stand up for herself. If not, she’d know everyone else had her back, too. But he didn’t think even Yen Sid would complain right now; they had Ven, after all, and Aqua was here. There’s no way he wouldn’t approve of her.

Aqua took the stairs ahead of Terra, getting the doors since Terra was carrying Ven, and it was her who entered Yen Sid’s study first. Terra almost smiled as he heard the commotion within, entering after her to see Sora and Riku there already, Mickey darting past him presumably to go get Kairi. Sora’s head whipped around when Terra entered, eyes wide. “Holy crap!” He said, bounding over. “Is that Ven?! No wonder everyone was-- he looks just like Roxas!” 

“We said that already, buddy,” Lea said with a laugh, looking over Terra’s shoulder as he and the others entered. “But yeah, it’s pretty weird, isn’t it? How’s it going, Sora, by the way?”

“Pretty good,” Sora said with a grin. “Kairi’s _scary_ in a fight. But it’s cool, it’s cool. You guys--” He looked around, from Ven to the blue-haired woman watching them with a startled but fond expression. “You guys found them? That’s great!”

Xion and Vanitas slipped past them to perch on one of the other tables in the room and watch, Xion staring at Riku shyly -- she had to wonder, if the the Organization remembered her, had Riku? -- and Ienzo leaned against the wall, while Lea laughed. “Well...we did find them. But boy, was there some crazy in between. You wanna tell ‘em, Terra?”

“Yeah, keep throwing me under the bus,” Terra said with a laugh, kneeling to gently lean Ven against the wall before turning to the others. Kairi and Mickey entered the room then, and Kairi waved at everyone, looking a bit surprised to see Aqua before turning to look at Terra. Everyone’s eyes on him now, he let out a sigh, shaking his head and shifting to a more comfortable kneeling position beside Ven. “Alright, alright. Where to start...”

He ran a hand through his hair. “We found Ven first, in a way,” he admitted slowly, glancing at the sleeping boy beside him. “Xehanort had...already gotten to him. Possessed him.” There was a lot of noise at that from the three kids and Mickey, Sora in particular going very white, but Terra pressed on. “We were coming to you guys, but we got, uh...caught up somewhere else, and that’s where we found Aqua.” He glanced at Mickey, whose eyes lit in realization. “Have you gone to see Oswald, by the way?” 

“Yeah!” Mickey said with a bright grin. “Went there soon as I remembered. Thanks a ton for savin’ him, Terra. I...somewhere in my heart missed him, even if I didn’t remember him. We’ve got a lotta work t’do, but we’ll do it. ‘Specially now that we can.”

Terra smiled back. “Least we could do for them all,” he said. “Anyway, we found Aqua there, and...well, after that we chased down Ven.” They could go into detail about Jasper later, probably. For now this was more important. “We found him, and then with some help from Ienzo an’ a trick he learned while we were searching, we were able to get the piece of Xehanort out of him.”

“Wow, really?” Riku said, eyebrows rising. “That’s a useful trick. Where did you…?”

Ienzo shrugged. “A fairly interesting world,” he admitted. “Most of them are unable to leave thanks to some magic, but the denizens are...rather powerful, magically speaking. Removing a heart was something they apparently knew well.” He smiled. “And reformed villains are always very useful teachers.”

Riku had to snort at that, shaking his head in amusement. “You guys…” 

“All the same, that’s what happened, give or take some unnecessary details,” Terra said with a smile. “Aqua’s safe, Ven’s here, and…” He glanced at Sora. “There’s one more thing to do.”

Sora blinked in confusion, and then straightened. “Oh! Oh, his heart!” He grinned, walking over to Ven and crouching, before pausing. “How are we gonna...the last time I did something like this it, uh...well, we don’t wanna do that again.” He studiously ignored the looks Kairi and RIku shot him, amused and annoyed, instead grinning. “So how’s this work?”

“I think I can help,” Ienzo said, moving over to kneel beside Sora. “The heart-removal magic works both ways, after all. And I can tell the difference between yours and Ven’s -- your auras aren’t the same.” Sora’s was the scent of a beach, the wind and waves, and Ven’s was apples, sweet and sugary like a dessert. “Hold still -- and I promise, Sora, you’ll be alright.” He only vaguely knew what Sora meant when he referred to ‘last time’ and given the existence of Roxas it wasn’t hard to guess, so...that wasn’t going to happen again.

Sora nodded, looking slightly nervous as Ienzo slid his hand into his chest -- it wasn’t hard to find Ven’s, regardless of auras; the blond’s heart felt cracked and damaged, like a vase glued back together carefully, while Sora’s was whole and healthy. Both were warm, a sort of soft and gentle warmth that spoke of the light, and Ienzo carefully removed it, cradling it in both hands. The glow lit the room, a bright and soothing light that made Aqua smile as she moved to join Terra beside Ven, and Sora stepped away to let her. 

Without much more hesitation, Ienzo slipped Ven’s heart back into his chest, waiting until the boy started to stir before stepping back and allowing it to be simply Terra and Aqua beside him, though he glanced at Vanitas pointedly as he did so. The black-haired boy looked...nervous and awkward, and shook his head, but his eyes flickered back towards Ven and the others, watching intently.

Ven’s eyes opened slowly, flickering tiredly, and he shifted to stretch, yawning widely and rubbing at his face. “Mmm…” He mumbled, looking up and around, his eyes lighting up as he took in the room. Before he could say anything, though, Terra and Aqua both threw their arms around him with twin cries of his name, hugging him tightly with tears in their eyes. Ven yelped at the sudden embrace, flailing a little, but then he wrapped his arms around them both as well, burying his face into Terra’s shoulder. “Terra! Aqua!” He managed, his own voice already shaky. “You’re-- I-- I missed you so much, I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“I’m sorry I took so long,” Aqua managed, tears running down her face. “Oh, Ven, I’m so sorry, I promised I’d protect you and I…”

“It’s okay,” Ven said, smiling at her. “It’s okay. We all messed up, Aqua, it’s okay. We’re all together again now, and that’s what’s important!” He...wasn’t quite sure of what had happened, but he had memories of being a vessel -- scary and gross and awful, and it made him that much more glad Terra was okay -- and...memories of other stuff, which might be Sora’s. Those were all kinda vague and hazy, but enough for him to sort of have the gist of some of what he missed. Not all of it, but he figured it was enough! “We’re all together again and I-- I--” 

Okay, so maybe he wasn’t anywhere near as cool as he thought, because now he couldn’t stop crying, and he burrowed into his friends’ arms as they all sat intertwined, tears running down three faces. After all this time, all these years, all the pain and the misunderstandings...they were _together_. No more apologies were needed, no more words -- this was enough. Maybe later they’d have to talk, but for now, for this moment, all they needed was the other two beside them to know everything had worked out eventually.

Ven disentangled himself after a moment, sitting back to touch his chest and then peer over Terra’s shoulder. “Vanitas!” He called, and the boy flinched from his spot on the counter, as if waiting to be yelled at. “C’mere! You get in on this hug, too!”

“...what?” Vanitas managed after a moment, bewildered but already sliding off the table. “Why?”

Ven rolled his eyes. “Uh, ‘cause you helped save me? You were like most of the reason you guys won that fight, you were _awesome_.” And it wasn’t like Ven had forgotten what Vanitas had said -- he wanted to make sure the other boy knew where he stood, where they all stood. “So c’mere. I want to hug you.”

Vanitas stared at him for a moment more, before hesitantly walking over. Aqua and Terra immediately opened their arms to include him, and Ven grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug, the other two closing around him so that it was all four of them in a tangle of arms and affection. 

After a moment, though, Vanitas managed to push everyone back enough so that he could talk. “Wait,” he said slowly. “Why am I not...how come I’m still here? Shouldn’t I have gone back to you now that you’re...you, and we’re here, and-- isn’t that how this works?” 

“...I guess?” Ven said, confused, but then shook his head. “But I don’t want you to. Go back in me, I mean! Everyone likes you so much, too, and you have friends! Lea and Terra and everyone, they want you around, too, and I don’t want you to go back in me if it means...you should get to be _you_ , Vanitas. And I want to be friends with you, too. I don’t…” He shook his head again, unable to articulate what he meant. He didn’t want Vanitas to disappear. Looking back, even with some of his memories of before the Land of Departure still gone or blurry...he could guess what Vanitas had went through. And he didn’t deserve to lose this little bit of happiness he’d gotten, finally.

Yen Sid finally spoke, startling them all. “I do not think such a thing will be necessary,” he said at last, his eyes on Vanitas and Ven. “Can you not see? The boy has grown his own heart. His time with Terra, learning and forming bonds with those close to him, has allowed him to do so. I did not think it possible, but here is the proof before us all.”

There was silence, and Ven and Vanitas stared at Yen Sid for a moment, before looking at each other, and Ven leaned in to rest his head against Vanita’s chest. “...yeah,” he said after a moment, leaning back to beam at him. “I can feel it! There’s-- there’s something in there! A heart, Vanitas, you’re-- you’re really _you!”_

Vanitas was speechless, pressing both hands to his chest and looking around at everyone, eyes wide and disbelieving. But seeing all their faces, surprised and amazing and happy, proud of him, even-- Lea, Terra, Ienzo, even Aqua, and-- and _Ven..._ his eyes felt wet, then, and he burst into tears even as a stunned laugh escaped him. “I’m really me!” He managed. “I’m me! I’m not-- I’m _me!_ I’m my own-- I’m my own person!” Not Ven’s shadow or his leftovers anymore, his very own person. 

“You’re your own person!” Xion put in, finally joining the conversation -- shyness aside, she was overjoyed for him, and she couldn’t just sit back! He was his own person! So was she, now, now that she had her memories. She wasn’t just Sora’s Replica, she was Xion, who could exist without hurting Sora, exist on her own -- and now Vanitas could be the same way! She leapt from the counter to go and hug Vanitas, who hugged her tightly back, still overwhelmed. “You’re you! We’re us! That’s wonderful, Vanitas!” 

Vanitas laughed and buried his face in her shoulder for a moment, before sitting up again to lean against Tera, nudging her slightly. She blinked and went a little pink, turning to Sora and the others with a shy smile and a wave. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Xion. Terra and them found me when they found Oswald.”

“Hi, Xion,” Riku said, crouching to smile at her warmly. “It’s...it’s good to see you again. I remembered you a few days ago, and I was wondering why that happened. I’m...really glad you get to be here. You deserve that.”

Xion lit up and moved to hug Riku, who hugged her back, before she sat back to smile at Sora and Kairi, who looked confused. “Sorry,” she said. “I should...I’m a Replica. The old Organization made me, um, as a Replica of Sora because they wanted a backup Keybearer, and...stuff happened, and I had to go away.” She gestured vaguely. “‘Cause I was kind of borrowing too many of your memories, Sora. Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine,” Sora told her with a grin, crouching next to Riku. “I’ve seen you before! In the realm of sleep, when I was lost in dreams. I saw you with Namine and Roxas. I wondered who you were...and now I know!” He offered her a hand. “It’s real nice to meet you, Xion, and I’m glad you’re here. I never wanted any of you guys that were part of me to just...fade away and have to stop being you to be me. I told Roxas that, too. You all deserve to be your own people. Them, and you, and Vanitas, and I’m really happy that you guys...that you guys get to.”

Xion smiled at him, taking his hand. “I am too,” she said. “And...we’ll get Roxas and Namine back, too, right? So we can all of us be our own people. So all of us can exist.”

“Yeah!” Sora said, pumping his free hand energetically. “All of you. I mean...that’s what we’re here for, so everyone can have a happy ending, and I mean _everyone_.” 

Kairi grinned, offering her own hand to Xion once Sora was standing up and moving out of the way, helping her to her feet. “Yep,” she said. “And man, that’s...this is--” She looked around, grin widening. “Me, Sora, Riku, you three, plus Xion and Lea and Vanitas, and plus Mickey, too -- that’s ten of us! And eleven if we get Roxas! Xehanort and his dumb idea of only seven? Well, guess what, we’re well on our way to matching his thirteen one for one!”

Terra grinned and stood as well, helping Vanitas up as Aqua helped Ven. Twelve, really, he thought, if you counted Jasper. And thirteen...well. Maybe they could figure out where Lauriam’s Keyblade had gone. And wouldn’t that be something? Thirteen lights for thirteen darknesses -- more than enough to match them, and a count Xehanort _hadn’t_ counted on. He couldn’t plan ahead for this, and hadn’t seen this coming. So they’d...they’d have a chance. A real chance.

“That’s way more than enough to kick Xehanort’s butt!” Sora said with a laugh, grinning and putting his hands on his hips. 

Lea grinned as well. “Hell yeah it is,” He said. “And not only that, we have two Masters up in here, right? That’s gotta count for something.”

“Three, actually,” Aqua said suddenly, startling everyone silent as they turned to her -- Terra most of all, who had gone very still. “Terra, you should have earned it all those years ago. You deserved it then, and you deserve it now even more. Everything that’s happened to you...you still fought. No matter what happened to your body, to your heart, you fought him every moment for so long. And despite everything, you got back up and went to find us. You saved me, saved Ven, and...you’ve earned it twice over, Terra, and to me...I was too blind, back then, to see it clearly: you’ve always been a Master in all but name, Terra, and…”

She held out both her hands to him. “By my authority as a Keyblade Master,” she began, her voice warm and fond as Terra hesitantly took her hands, looking almost unable to believe what he was hearing. “I name you, _finally_ , Master Terra.”

“Thank you for taking the initiative, Master Aqua,” Yen Sid said. “I had intended to grant him the title myself after he had brought you and Ventus safely to us. His deeds of late have proven him more than worthy of the title.” 

Easy for him to say, Terra thought distantly. He didn’t honestly care, though, whether Yen Sid thought he was worthy or not. Yen Sid wasn’t the best judge. But-- to hear it from _Aqua_ , though...from Aqua, who had lost her faith in him all those years ago, when she became a Master. Who had spied on him and thought the worst...to hear this from her and know, finally for sure -- despite her reassurances when she’d woken -- that she...that her faith had wavered but never broken, that she thought he...he knew he was crying, but he didn’t really care that he was. 

“Thank you,” he managed, squeezing Aqua’s hands before pulling her into a tight hug. A master...it was all he’d ever wanted, back then, and until it had been brought up...he’d forgotten all about it. It hadn’t seemed like it mattered anymore. And it...in a way, it didn’t? But at the same time, to have it after all this time, to finally be able to wear the title with pride, to know that it was _his_ \-- and not some manipulation by Xehanort -- it was...it meant something in a way he couldn’t name, something that felt...vindicating, maybe? Or was that too harsh of a word?

Either way, it felt...it felt good.

“Check you out, _Master_ Terra,” Vanitas said warmly, nudging him once he’d broken the embrace with Aqua. “You wear it pretty well. And it sounds _way_ better than Superior or whatever.” He grinned. “Don’t expect me to bow to you and stuff, though.”

Terra laughed, ruffling his hair aggressively. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said. “Wouldn’t expect you to bow to anyone, honestly, so I don’t know why I’d bother in the first place.”

That got the room to laugh, and Sora grinned, crossing his arms and looking around at all of them. 

“We’re almost all together again,” he said. “And when we are...we’ll be ready. After we’re all here -- Xehanort’s next.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit. You guys. Technically this is the last chapter. 
> 
> I just have an epilogue to go. I'm...I...wow. Wow. I'll freak out more I think once the epilogue is up and I can click 'finished' on the fic, I think, but...wow. Holy shit. 
> 
> And yes, it's about GODDAMN TIME Terra was named Master. And I will fight for the rights of kids to be Their Own People!!!!!


	50. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And we return to the hotel, to the others.
> 
> To a family that had never meant to be one, but that is all the same.

After saying goodbyes to Sora and the others at the Tower -- only temporary, of course -- Terra and the rest headed back to the hotel. There wasn’t much to catch them up on, but what there was was most certainly important.

Foremost among those things was Ven, who seemed genuinely excited to meet the rest of the Organization. bouncing up and down like he was unable to keep entirely still. Terra couldn’t blame him, though. He’d been asleep for nearly twelve years -- he probably didn’t _want_ to keep still.

The rest of the group was waiting in the lobby -- probably due to how long they’d been gone, or the realization Ienzo had followed them, or a combination of the reasons -- and Ven ran in ahead, looking around curiously at everyone, who stared back with varying levels of surprise. After all, he did look like Roxas, even if he clearly wasn’t. 

“Hey there, kiddo,” Braig said finally, lifting a hand in greeting. Ven turned to look and squinted a little, and then brightened, waving frantically at him. “Good to see you. Looks like Terra and them got you back, huh? Made a pit stop with Sora, too, looks like.”

“Yep!” Ven said brightly, before turning to everyone else. “Hi, guys! I’m Ven. Terra explained stuff to me before we got here, so it’s really nice to meet all of you! And thanks for helping Terra look for me, and, uh, for being nice to Vanitas.” He grinned, tucking his arms behind his head. “I’m looking forward to being friends!”

Danny laughed, the first one to move forward to offer his hand. “I like you!” He said. “I’m looking forward to it, too. I’m Danny, Ven, it’s nice to meet you too!”

The rest of the group came forward slowly, greeting Ven and talking among themselves, Isa quickly breaking off to go speak to Lea and Xion, and Even moving to scold Ienzo, who just looked fondly bemused at it -- a far cry from before, one would think. Lauriam, though, hung back beside Jasper, watching Ven with a mixture of bewilderment and something more painful in his eyes. 

“Hey,” Jasper said, nudging him gently. “What’s wrong?” He paused. “...is Ven…?”

Lauriam just nodded. “One of the five, with me,” he said quietly. “I...doubt he remembers, given what we’ve been told about him, but all the same…” There was no way he did recall the War -- Vanitas certainly didn’t, and if he had things would be wildly different. Or he had, once, but whatever Xehanort had done to him made him forget. Either way, it…

_“Lauriam?!”_ Ven’s surprise cut through his thoughts, and he let out a startled yelp as the blond threw himself at him in a hug. “It’s you! I mean, older, but it’s _you!”_

He could feel the weight of a dozen pairs of eyes or more on him, but Lauriam found he didn’t quite care. “Ven!” He managed, catching the boy so he wouldn’t fall. “Do you remember me?!”

“Kind of!” Ven said excitedly. “I don’t remember a lot about that stuff, but I know-- I know it’s there, I remembered some of it when I was possessed, and I know I know you!” His eyes were right. “It’s so good to see you’re okay! Do you know what happened?” 

Lauriam managed a sad smile. “No, I don’t remember that part, either. But I’m glad to see you’re alright, too, Ven. I’ve been worried.” He ruffled the blond’s hair, and then looked up at the others. “What?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “I thought it was established Ven was a Dandelion.”

“Well, yeah,” Lea said, amused. “And you did fill us in on you. But it’s...really, really weird to see you two, of all people, acting like old buddies.” He laughed. “Man, this whole thing is weird, though, so I guess this is, like, nothing compared to some other stuff.”

Ven laughed. “Well, _yeah_ ,” he said. “Our whole lives are _super_ weird. I figured that out when I got shrunk to mouse-size in Cinderella’s world!” He grinned, giving Lauriam a friendly punch to the arm before straightening and looking around. “But even the weirdest stuff’s okay when you’ve got friends with you, right, Lea?” 

“Ha, yeah!” Lea grinned. “Glad to see I’m still recognizable, huh?” He hadn’t really had time to talk to Ven before, but it was...nice to know the guy remembered him.

“Well, duh,” Ven said. “You said to get it memorized, after all. You’re immortal!” He grinned wider, glancing at Isa. “Or was it obnoxious?”

“Hey!” Lea yelped, pouting and swatting at Isa, who had to lean against Lea’s shoulder to laugh helplessly. “C’mon, really?! Some friends! You all haven’t changed, jeez!”

Aqua smiled fondly. “Well, some of us have,” she said. “But for the better, I think.” This was nice, she thought. A little like a family. She’d had one, just her and Terra and Ven and Master Eraqus, but...this felt different. Still like a family, but...she couldn’t put her finger on it, but it was...the laughter in the room, the smiles, the light...you couldn’t watch it without smiling yourself. It felt like a home.

“Definitely for the better,” Terra said, glancing at Vanitas and then at Braig, who gave him a slight wave and an only somewhat tired smile. So many of them had been stuck in terrible situations, ones of their own making, ones they couldn’t see a way out of. Vanitas, Braig, Isa, even himself...they’d all been worse for wear, but they’d grown the past couple weeks -- or days, in Braig’s case. Been saved by the bonds they shared with other people, the bonds they forged.

“So,” he said, getting everyone’s attention. “I guess it would be a stupid question to ask if you’re all going to stay now that we’ve found Ven and Aqua?”

“You’re damn right that’s a stupid question!” Relena said, hands on her hips. “Of course we are! I like you idiots, despite everything, and honestly I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be. Here with people I can stand, getting ready to go kick Xehanort in the teeth? Yeah, I’m sticking around.”

“Likewise!” Danny said. “I mean less the ass-kicking part, but...this is an _ohana_ all its own, now, all of us, and I don’t want to leave just yet. I’d miss you all too much.” He grinned. “And like I’ve said before, Lilo would actually murder me if I came home before this was over.”

Damien chuckled. “The game’s just getting good, Terra, why would I ever leave now?” He said. “And...I’ll admit, yes, I’ve grown fond of you all. I’d rather stay, if it’s all the same to you.”

Lea laughed. “And honestly, the rest of us have personal stakes anyway!” He pointed out. “All of us from Radiant Garden, not to mention our local Dandelion patch. And even if we didn’t, we’d stay. The Organization was...it used to be miserable. We all hated each other and our situation, and barely tolerated each other at best. Not to mention all the backstabbing and murder, and _yes_ , I _know_ I’m one to talk about that, that’s the point.” He snorted. “It sucked. No one wanted to be there, and we all probably would’ve jumped at the chance to ditch and get the hell out of there.” 

He shook his head. “Now, though, it’s...we’re all _people_ again, we’re all…” He shrugged. “We’re a family now. Thanks a lot to you, Terra, honestly. We’re a family, and I don’t...I don’t think any of us wants to leave. Not now, not when there’s still shit to do, and…” His hands dropped to squeeze Isa’s and Xion’s on either side of him. “Why would any of us want to leave our friends?”

Terra smiled. “I thought you’d all say that,” he said. “I was hoping so, honestly. I feel the same.” It may only have been a few weeks, but...the bonds they’d formed were strong, formed of shared pain, shared trials, and shared goals but no less genuine for having been begun in the Organization, begun without hearts and so much less warmth. He wasn’t sure how much he’d really contributed to it, but he was glad they thought so. Maybe that was his real Mark of Mastery, that he’d become such a leader to them so fast, been able to form a group of people that loathed each other into a true family…?

“So,” he said. “Sora, Riku, and Kairi are still training, and I suppose we need to, too, but -- looks like in the meantime the worlds still need an eye kept on them.” He grinned. “Sounds like the Organization is back in business, huh?”

The group laughed. “Sure sounds like it, boss man!” Braig said with a laugh. “And a hell of a lot better one, too.”

“Oh, _no_ , please don’t make me do more paperwork,” Isa groaned. “I never want to see another mission report again.” 

Another laugh rippled through the group, and Terra smiled. A new Organization…a family now, not a bunch of angry, bitter Nobodies searching for their hearts, people being lied to by a man who saw them only as vessels. A _family_ , and together, they’d prepare for when the time came to take down Xehanort once and for all.

All of them, and Sora and his friends...they’d be ready.

And when the time came...they’d win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Oh my god. I can't believe I'm going to say this but. 
> 
> It's over. AST is officially finished. Thank you for reading and for sticking with me this whole time -- I'm as honored that all of you stuck with me this long as you are impressed that I managed it. 
> 
> This has been a long time coming: the first 'draft' of AST began way back in 2012, before KH3D came out, and was a high school girl's first attempt at an epic fanfic like the ones she'd loved to read. It got seventeen chapters in, and fell apart because of a huge lack of focus and a span that was way bigger than I could handle. Despite this, I always wished I could finish it -- it had gotten a lot of good comments, some I've still saved in my email to cherish forever, and it was...it meant something to me.
> 
> Fast forward to 2016, when on a whim I decided: why not? Let's not just continue it, let's rewrite it. Let's take what wasn't so great about the first draft and update it, change it with all this new information, polish it up -- because frankly it was not that good, looking back -- and this time, see it through. There were a few bumps along the way, two unintentional several-month-long hiatuses, but...here we are. Two years and fifty chapters later, and it's over.
> 
> Thank you to every single person who commented and kept commenting, because it's in large part to you that this was able to happen: every comment I got made me that much more determined to see it through and make all of you proud, make all of the praise I got mean something. 
> 
> This fic is...it will always be my crowning achievement, honestly, and it means the world to me that everyone I've shared it with likes it just as much as I do. Kingdom Hearts was my very first real fandom, all the way back in 2006 when a middle school girl bought KH2 with the prize money from her district spelling bee. I was a girl who loved Disney from the time I was 2 years old, as the old and battered Woody and Tigger dolls in my room can attest, and this series...the emotions I feel every time I hear Simple and Clean, or think about January 29 and the end of the saga... Well. I know you feel them too. And I'm glad we can share this.
> 
> But enough of me being sentimental: there's things to discuss. If you think this is the end of the AST universe, then you thought wrong -- I fully intend to write more in this AU, and I already have a list of about three or four oneshots to write. Now, that's where you come in: what would you like to see played with in this universe? Who would you like to see interact? What do you think merits attention? I might not get to all of your suggestions, but as you've stuck through all this way...you guys deserve a say.
> 
> Again, thank you so much for sticking with me on this ride, and I can't wait to write more in this universe and maybe, just maybe, other fanfics entirely. 
> 
> I love all of you readers -- got it memorized? ;)  
> Kitty, aka BlackJacketsandPens


End file.
